I had forgotten that my book, Beloved African, contained this sentence until I came upon it while preparing for the launch in Harare a couple of weeks ago.

My trip left me with the heaviest heart ever - primarily because the bond between the thinkers, the farmers, business and professional people, black and white, in that wonderful country of ours has never been stronger. One black businessman said to me "we are so angry - because we were the best country in Africa - and now we are just another tin-pot state ... if this man stays in power, I and another 20,000 talented and able black leaders will be out of there within months."

Australians who have read this book and who are NOT from Africa have been shattered by the excellent work which was being done by so many hard-working and dedicated people blacks and whites during that relatively peaceful period in Rhodesia between 1935 and 1965 - it is a perspective they have never had. It makes their horror at what is happening now, much greater. The Guardian in London has just done a review in which it cited the book as a chance to "take a closer look at (the history of Zimbabwe) to help us understand what is happening right now"

The reason for contacting you is to ask you to help us stimulate interest in distribution in Australia - not only of this book, but of others which are already, or will be published in the future. As you will all know, it is really difficult to get any books on Africa (published outside Australia) onto our bookshelves. My publishers have distribution everywhere else in the world - but not Australia! I will be doing launches on the East coast in mid June, with what looks as though it will be good media coverage, and we do want the bookshops to have copies if possible.

Would you, anytime you think of it when just walking past perhaps, pop into a bookshop and ask if they have the book. Or ask your local library. If not, refer them to my website at www.belovedafrican.com where they can find ISBN numbers and all that jazz and get in touch with either the Publishers, Covos-Day, Zambesi books in Perth or me direct. I hope to update it soon following my return from Zim and SA.

I feel diffident and awkward approaching you and asking you to do this as it might ultimately result in greater sales of the book ... and I have thought long and hard about it. The first print run is already sold out and the second is under way - so the book is attracting attention anyway.

It is the nightmare of Zim at the moment and the results which have been achieved by all of us sending emails round the world to the media and politicians which has I am quite sure, helped to bring the horror of it into the world spotlight. The amazing reaction I have had from non-'out of Africans' on reading Beloved African has prompted me to ask you to just ask the question! If anything can give people a greater understanding of what we were trying to do in "the best country in Africa ..." we somehow need to let people know about it.