Far from the tree: Masache’s bold return

PATIENCE MUSA

There are writers who create stories—and then there are those who bleed them onto the page.

Kundai Masache, the Zimbabwean author, human rights advocate, and founder of the World Change Organisation, belongs fiercely to the latter.

With the release of his much-anticipated second novel, Far From the Tree: A Tale of Redemption, Masache reminds us that storytelling can be both a scalpel and a balm.

After capturing national attention with his bestselling debut, Hope: A Letter to My Unborn Child—a book that read like a lyrical confession—Masache now plunges deeper. Far From the Tree: A Tale of Redemption is a searing narrative that walks the line between pain and grace, delving into addiction, trauma, identity, masculinity, and the delicate architecture of healing.

At the heart of the novel is Trevor—a 29-year-old Harare-based journalist haunted by demons that wear many names: grief, secrecy, lust, guilt, and an aching need to belong.

Set in the textured streets and unspoken shadows of Harare, Trevor’s journey is one of survival—but also of reckoning. Through him, Masache holds up a mirror to our society and dares us to look closely at the cracks.

But this is more than fiction. It is lived truth.

Masache is no stranger to the narratives he weaves. An outspoken advocate for human rights and mental health, he has publicly opened up about his own experiences with trauma, addiction, and the quiet wars waged in the minds of many Zimbabwean men.

His courage in addressing gambling, family dysfunction, and sexual identity is more than vulnerability—it’s resistance.

Currently studying law at the University of Zimbabwe, and celebrated as a Gender Champion by the Netherlands Embassy, Masache straddles the worlds of activism, academia, and art. Through his NGO, he amplifies voices often buried under silence. Through his writing, he gives them language.

What makes Far From the Tree: A Tale of Redemption particularly gripping is its unflinching honesty.

Masache does not sugar-coat the journey toward redemption—he renders it with tenderness, rage, poetry, and grit. The novel hums with questions: Can we ever outrun where we come from? What does it mean to forgive without forgetting? Is redemption earned—or gifted?

Masache doesn’t hand us answers. Instead, he offers something far more powerful: the space to feel, to reflect, and maybe, to begin again.

With this second offering, Kundai Masache proves he is not just a writer of books—but a writer of our time. His work pulses with urgency, compassion, and a clarity that refuses to look away.

In a nation grappling with silence around mental health, masculinity, and generational trauma, Masache’s voice is not just refreshing—it is necessary.

Far From the Tree: A Tale of Redemption doesn’t ask you to read it. It dares you to.

This powerful novel will be officially launched this coming Saturday and will soon be available in bookstores across the country.

It’s a powerful reminder of the importance of supporting Zimbabwean stories and the voices behind them. In reading our own, we honour who we are—and we teach our children to do the same.