Ounce of Practice

As Viktor's marriage crumbles in London he struggles to make sense of the world around him. He is consumed with ideas about how to bring about radical social change. He befriends Tendai, a Zimbabwean cleaner at his university, and joins his struggle for cleaner's living wage. They share revolutionary ideas, spurring each on, and Tendai suggests that Viktor make contact with his friend in Zimbabwe, Anne-Marie. Through her we are introduced to Nelson, Biko, Lenin and other figures named after prominent past revolutionaries. Viktor and Anne-Marie start speaking on Skype, and they soon begin to depend on their companionship and their friendship becomes sexual in nature, despite never having met. Urged on by Tendai, Victor decides to travel to Harare to witness the realities of political struggle - following Frantz Fanon's idea about "an ounce of practice". He and Anne-Marie quickly consummate their relationship. Victorbecomes caught up with a group of men and women involved in an unusual opposition group with devastating, unexpected results. This is a novel about hope, fear, and failure, and how fighting for an all-consuming cause can forge some relationships but ruin others.

'Leo Zeilig reveals the full complexity, beauty, richness and contradictions of a life of political commitment, internationalism and struggle. Karl Marx once wrote to a comrade that we must engage in "ruthless criticism of all that exists, ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be" Despite heartache, failings and other all-too-human qualities, Zeilig's characters embody that spirit and determination.'[ANTHONY ARNOVE]; ]; 'Leo Zeilig's second novel brims with longing and loss, stretching from the intimate failures of the family to the burning urgency of political resistance in Zimbabwe. Zeilig asks what it means in an age of digital activism and sex by text, to attempt to live truly and fully. In his fusion of the personal and the political, Zeilig refuses to look away, pointing the reader's gaze right at the uncomfortable and forcing us to admit our weaknesses as Viktor bares his own. This is fiction that does not lie' [SARAH GREY];'An Ounce of Practice is a gripping and affective tale of global radical politics, love, and life in the virtual realm of the Internet. Hilarious and moving. Utterly honest and, in equal measure, politically and emotionally intelligent, this powerful global and African bildungsroman is authentic, intensely complex, and humane. With this vivid work Leo Zeilig has placed himself firmly as a momentous writer of the predicament of radical politics and imagination in today's world' [HEIKE BECKER];' 'An Ounce of Practice paints a compelling picture of the desperate world of migrants and emigres drawn to the flickering flame of revolt despite the tsunami of neoliberalism. Leo Zeilig has delved deep, with a cold eye and a warm wit into the passions and motivations of his cast of committed but troubled characters.' [COLIN FANCY]

Leo Zeilig is a writer and researcher. He has written extensively on African politics and history, including books on working-class struggle and the development of revolutionary movements, and biographies on some of Africa's most important political thinkers and activities. Leo is editor of the Review of African Political Economy and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. His critically acclaimed novel Eddie the Kid won the 2014 Creative Work Prize.