Pre-order: Shipped to arrive on Publication day 28 Aug 2026
ISBN: 9781915789624
 
The Whispering Jacarandas is a haunting debut that unfolds in the charged aftermath of Zimbabwe’s independence. In the leafy suburb of Belvedere, sisters Zaynah and Amira grow up within the shelter of a close-knit Indian community, until one night of violence shatters their childhood and drives an unspoken rift between them.
 
As the sisters navigate adolescence under the shadow of silence, their paths diverge: one drawn inward into secrecy, the other seeking escape in rebellion. Against a backdrop of political upheaval and simmering racial tensions, they must confront the weight of trauma, the fragility of identity, and the unbreakable, yet fractured, threads of sisterhood.
 
Lyrical and devastating, The Whispering Jacarandas evokes the beauty and resilience of its namesake blooms while exploring how love, loyalty, and the search for belonging endure in even the harshest of landscapes.
 
'How could a root forget her flowers? How strong and beautiful they were. Like jacaranda trees they could survive and bloom wherever they were planted.'
 
About the Author
 
Zahirra Dayal was born in Zimbabwe and now lives in London, where she works as a university lecturer. Her writing explores belonging, racial dynamics, and the unspoken tensions of family life.
The Whispering Jacarandas grew from a short story inspired by her grandmother, who migrated from Gujarat to Southern Africa, and was developed into a novel through a Jericho Writers Self-Edit bursary.

Zahirra’s work has appeared in The Mechanics’ Institute Review and Teeserae, with a poem forthcoming in Third Space. She has been longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Prize and the SI Leeds Literary Prize and shortlisted for the Owned Voices Award, receiving mentorship from acclaimed writers including Yvonne Singh.