Journalist Zibu Sithole, author of The Thing with Zola and I do… Don’t I?, launched the final book in the series: Love, Zola, at Melville-based Book Circle Capital on August 16.

When the paper last spoke to the writer, who describes herself a mother from the East Rand, she was celebrating the launch of her fist book, The Thing with Zola. Since then a lot has happened in this characters life. “Zola she has changed a lot, especially in her way of thinking.”

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In the first book, Zola arrived back in South Africa, wanting so desperately to be back in Europe. Now, she is back home, having made her peace with it. Not only that, she is discovering who she is outside of her achievements. “She has always been so driven by her achievements, and what she deserves because of them. Not so much: ‘Who am I and what do I want?’.”

Love, Zola picks up 18 months after I do… Don’t I?, with her love interest, Mbali, having just proposed to her. Sithole says Zola is in love and sees the potential of who Mbali can be, finding herself at loggerheads as to whether Mbali’s potential is enough for her, and if love is solely enough to build a life with someone.

Creating Zola was no easy process for Sithole, as her, and the character’s start point, were very similar.

“I started writing the first book after the pandemic. As a journalist, a lot us lost our jobs. Besides that, I was so disenchanted by a profession I had built my whole personality around. At the time, I questioned whether I still wanted to do it.”

Sithole had to start over, letting go of what she had distinguished as success. She had to move back home and lose her car, and a lot more than that, so she could start over. “So, I wrote a book about someone who was also starting over, but as I writing, there was the struggle of making sure Zola was not me.”

Sithole says she faced various other struggles, such as making sure not to make decisions for Zola, allowing the character to grow, in some instances, faster than the writer was herself. “It’s a very weird thing, when you start comparing yourself to a fictional character, but you’re interacting with this person’s life on the daily, so while, yes, I know this person is fictional, they also need to become real.”

The writer had not anticipated the impact the book would have on audiences, as all she wanted was to write.

“I am always surprised every time someone puts on social media that they read the book, or every time I have to sign a copy.” The three-time author said it was her intention, while writing the book, that it be conversational in its tone, as a way for the reader to bond with the character, as though they were doing so with a close friend.

When it comes to this series, Sithole says there was always ever going to be just three books. “I had an outline of how each book was going to flow, but once I got to this one I completely scraped the outline and started afresh. I surprised myself and my publisher.”

A self proclaimed hopeless romantic, Sithole says her next venture will most likely continue with the theme of love, but being completely different from this series.

She would love the series to be adapted into a movie, with Zola being depicted by talented South African actress Rosemary Zimu-Mnguni. In the meantime, you can her find Zola in her books at Book Circle Capital, as well as Exclusive Books and online for purchase.

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