Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s depictions of graphic violence, alcohol use disorder, death, sexual assault, and systemic racism.

During the Rhodesian Bush War, Alexandra’s parents sleep with loaded guns nearby, cautioning the then-6-year-old not to startle them at night. Alexandra wakes her older sister, Vanessa, for a trip to the bathroom, and both take turns watching out for snakes and scorpions. Vanessa advises against reading an adult magazine both find in the bathroom, which their mother had explained was not suitable behavior for their race, referencing her belief in their family’s racial superiority.

Vanessa frightens Alexandra by playfully claiming there‘s a terrorist under her bed. As Alexandra starts to cry, Vanessa reassures and comforts her sister to avoid waking their parents. The next morning, the family gathers for breakfast.

Alexandra grapples with her identity, feeling disconnected from England, her birthplace, and the African countries she‘s lived in. Her mother, Nicola Fuller, shares this struggle, seeking solace in Scottish music and heavy drinking, longing for a homeland she‘s never truly known.

18-year-old Alexandra declines her mother’s offer to drink together, packing for her return to boarding school in Zimbabwe instead. During the drive to the border, her father,