When a Crocodile Eats the Sun Audiobook By Peter Godwin cover art

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

A Memoir of Africa

 Preview

$0.00 for first 30 days

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

By: Peter Godwin
Narrated by: Peter Godwin
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

After his father's heart attack in 1984, Peter Godwin began a series of pilgrimages back to Zimbabwe, the land of his birth, from Manhattan, where he now lives. On these frequent visits to check on his elderly parents, he bore witness to Zimbabwe's dramatic spiral downward into the jaws of violent chaos, presided over by an increasingly enraged dictator. And yet long after their comfortable lifestyle had been shattered and millions were fleeing, his parents refuse to leave, steadfast in their allegiance to the failed state that has been their adopted home for 50 years. Then Godwin discovered a shocking family secret that helped explain their loyalty. Africa was his father's sanctuary from another identity, another world.

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun is a stirring memoir of the disintegration of a family set against the collapse of a country. But it is also a vivid portrait of the profound strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of love.

©2006 Peter Godwin (P)2007 Recorded Books Africa Cultural & Regional Memoir Heartfelt
Masterful Storytelling • Moving Memoir • Historical Insight • Authentic Narration
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
This was very interesting, well told, and well read. I really enjoyed Mukiwa, so I read this book. This book is like Orwell’s book Animal Farm but happening in real life. It is sad to see such a nice country run into the ground by pride, greed, and political correctness.

An Inside Look at a Descent Into Tyranny

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What is means to be of a place for better or worse and often it’s worse. Terrific.

Beautiful story and wonderfully told.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good story, well narrated. Evocative for me, an African away from Africa, for so long.

Worth the listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Peter Godwin is a fantastic writer/story-teller. I read this book in my early twenties and have found it even more moving now, in my thirties, with a little more appreciation for life's twists and turns. I enjoyed listening to the author's voice, as it lends authenticity to the story.

Superb!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed this account of the demise of Zimbabwe - quite heartbreaking - a very touching reach

Great listen - well read - resonated for a fellow African

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed listening to this book, especially since I grew up in South Africa. There was so much I didn’t know about what was happening due to censorship so this book was also a learning experience

Outstanding

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Portrayal of a nation’s decline due to unfettered, corrupt leadership. Grinds the average citizen into poverty.
Intermixed with the uniqueness of the family ~~ love of Zimbabwe, sadness as the security is stripped away. Yet, as always, the goodness of the average citizen maintains.
So we’ll written and narrated.

Humane, eloquent portrayal of Zimbabwe.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Enjoyed the book, it gave me an insight to what my family had to endure before the fledgling to South Africa to join us.

The love for their country despite everything

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Bittersweet and wonderfully written memoir that helped me gain a deeper understanding of Zimbabwe’s history

Beautiful and engaging storytelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is the third book that I have read of Peter Godwin. He is a masterful storyteller, and does a great job of narrating his own work. This is a story, not simply of a family in Africa, but a tale of a country being driven to ruin by Robert Mugabe. This is a story of family and relationships. It’s also a story of the holocaust, as Pieter’s father was a Polish Jew, who fought against the Nazis from Great Britain ended up, marrying his physician, wife and settling to raise a family and what was Rhodesia and became Zimbabwe. I I highly recommend this book. And look forward to reading other books by Peter Godwin.

A compelling Tale of Africa

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews