The Shape of Belonging - A Memoir

Published by Jonathan Ball Publishers in South Africa on April 1, 2027.

The Shape of Belonging traces one extraordinary life across five decades, four continents, three careers and two human hearts. From mid-century colonial Africa to rural Ireland, from Zimbabwe’s wars to the corridors of power in London and Washington, DC, from a failed utopia in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, to the simplicity of foraging in desert and forest, and finally to a beloved farm on a remote corner of Zambia’s Zambezi Valley. 

What shapes our belonging? The benediction of rain on dry earth, its arrival, its smell, its promise? Wars, politics, corruption and our resistance? An old friendship becoming a new love?

This is a memoir of displacement and homecoming, of family wounds across borders, of grief like a fault line through life, of friendship and collaboration, of the clash of ambition and justice, of food and comfort, intimacy and love and of the numinous blessings of human community.

Brave, lyrical and searingly honest, The Shape of Belonging is the story of a life lived between worlds and of the world found within a life. Belonging is not always inheritance. Nor a place on the map. It is also choice, creativity, commitment and discovery, rooted in the heart and given freely wherever it is found.

Watch this space for updates on book launches, tours and readings!

We invite you to make a donation to one of our supported charities. In appreciation of your generosity, we will gladly send you a downloadable PDF copy of the SavannaBel – Bush Gourmet Recipe Book, originally published in October 2018.

Please donate to one of the following charities:

Taonga Farm School with PayPal: donate@taonga.org

Zambezi Animal Welfare Services (ZAWS) with PayPal: zaws.zambia@gmail.com

Bank Transfer Details are available on the ZAWS website here

Your contribution will help make a meaningful difference to the lives of people and animals in our local communities while allowing you to enjoy this special collection of bush-inspired recipes. Thank you for your support and generosity!

SavannaBel - Bush Gourmet Recipe Book

Please find a sample of the recipe book here. The complete SavannaBel Bush Gourmet Recipe Book spans 80 pages and features a collection of Annabel Hughes Aston's award-winning bush gourmet recipes, celebrating indigenous ingredients, wild edibles, and seasonal produce from around Zambia. Once you have made your donation, please email proof of payment to us and we will send you the full recipe book, downloadable as a PDF.

Media & Awards

Annabel Hughes Aston's pioneering ‘Bush Gourmet’ cuisine has attracted international attention for its innovative use of wild edibles, indigenous ingredients, and hyperlocal produce sourced from Zambia's upper Zambezi Valley. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, with essays, recipes, and culinary stories commissioned by magazines as far-reaching as Vanity Fair (Italia) and The African in Germany to Food & Home Entertaining , Garden & Home and Getaway in South Africa.

Annabel's Bush Gourmet cuisine first gained widespread recognition after she launched it at The Elephant Café in Livingstone, where menus built around wild and indigenous ingredients helped earn both national and international acclaim within the first year of operation. Her credo has continued to receive widespread recognition for its contribution to sustainable, locally-rooted African gastronomy.


Selected Features & Publications