While in South Africa for Indaba 2024, I met fascinating traveller and writer Jennifer Stern.
Stern is the author of a book called A Big Hand for the Spirits.
Big Hand for the Spirits delves into the intersection of science, religion, and magic. A realm where the world functions in ways that are both strikingly ordinary and astonishingly extraordinary.
The story follows an ecologist on the run from a hitman, who joins forces with a brilliant physicist torn between his African spiritual beliefs and the demands of science.
Alongside them are an anesthetist grappling with a troubled marriage, a strong yet emotionally fragile river guide, and a mysterious recovering drug addict who vacillates between reality and fantasy. Together, they embark on a journey from Victoria Falls to Malawi, facing a series of adventures that range from thought-provoking to thrilling to downright terrifying.
As they delve into the depths of their personal and collective unconscious, the group discovers unexpected connections among them. Through both mystical experiences and practical means, they work together to survive and achieve each other’s goals.
Their journey – filled with wild white-water rafting, tracking elephants, dabbling in witchcraft, catching snakes, and learning to dive – mirrors their exploration of reality, time, and truth. Along the way, they begin to question the very fabric of existence, wondering if there are truly only three thousand people in the world.
The story reaches its climax on the shores of Lake Malawi, where a mesmerising performance of the Gule Wamkulu spirit dancers may hold the key to unraveling the mysteries they’ve uncovered – or perhaps, it might not.
I spoke to Stern about the release of the book.
Why has the book now come out on kindle?
Spirits has sold well in South Africa and we’ve had some queries from other countries but the couriering fees are astronomical. So we decided to join the 21st century and e-publish. Also, some people – especially those whose vision is not great – prefer e-books because you can enlarge the print.
What made you write the book in the first place?
I lived in Malawi for a while teaching diving and, one night, I went to the hotel close to my house for dinner and a performance of the Gule Wamkulu. It was obviously somewhat dressed up for the tourists, but it was a pretty authentic performance. And the part that got me was when the MC/hotel manager welcomed all the guests, and dramatically introduced the dancers by saying: ’Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, the spirits will dance for you. These are not actors, ladies and gentlemen, they are real spirits. And, if an uninitiated person were to see the spirits – yea, even to meet one on the road – they would DIE!’
He then proceeded to read out the names of all the guests, ensuring us that we had been initiated and that it was safe to continue watching. I turned to my friend, and said ’So, what would happen if someone were to meet the spirit on the road?’ And then I went down a rabbit hole of speculation and fantasy, and endless rewrites and drafts.
And, if you’re wondering how I came up with the title, that was cast in stone. At the beginning and end of each dance, the MC exhorted, ‘A big hand for the spirits, ladies and gentlemen. A big hand for the spirits.’
Tell us about you, your background?
After a very short stint experimenting with a semi-corporate office job, I taught diving for a few years – in Cape Town, Malawi and the Caribbean – and simultaneously wrote regular articles for a local dive magazine. And then, as I was about to leave Malawi – with the germ of this novel buzzing round in my head – I picked up a copy of a popular backpackers guide to Africa (that shall remain nameless). I noted many inaccuracies, was offended by the tone in which it was written, and was shocked by the fact that most of the ‘advice’ was about how to access the black market to rob struggling economies of the little bit of hard currency they could earn through tourism. So I thought, I can do much better than that, and wrote my first non-fiction book – Southern Africa on a Budget. Instead of updating it, I followed it up with an adventure guide, which covered the same geographical territory but was activity- priority instead of place-priority. It went through two editions and then I wrote a slew of other non-fiction books on – mostly – food, coffee, and travel. But all the while, I was writing and discarding many, many, drafts of A big hand for the Spirits. Yes, I have the attention span of a hyperactive squirrel.
What might readers expect from your book?
I like to think there’s something for everyone. If you just want a nice, rollicking adventure/thriller in which the bad guys get their comeuppance in a most dramatic and pretty creative way, and the protagonists – eventually – find love, you can read it on that level. But there is more. It’s really about the point in time and space where science, religion, and magic come together – where the world behaves in ways that are at once absolutely normal… but also utterly amazing. The action, which includes wild white water rafting, tracking elephants, dabbling in witchcraft, catching snakes, and learning to dive, mirrors the characters’ exploration of the nature of reality, time, and truth – and whether there are, in fact, only three thousand people in the world.
How would you pitch your book in one paragraph?
A Big Hand for the Spirits is an adrenaline-fuelled roller-coaster exploration of southern Africa, African traditional beliefs, intergenerational trauma, identity, and the nature of truth wrapped up in a nail-biting thriller. You can read it for the story, the landscape, the culture, and the wildlife, or you can dive into the rabbit hole of existential enquiry. Or both.
How would you describe your writing style?
My writing style is accessible, occasionally lyrical, and very descriptive but succinct. It’s a loose, informal style – I write like I talk.
What have you got in the works next?
I’m juggling two projects – a vampire novel (but I promise you, it’s unlike any vampire story you’ve ever read) – and a very ambitious non-fiction book – a somewhat satirical southern-hemisphere-centric, Africa-centric history of the world. (Yes – hyperactive squirrel brain).
