Zaire Zaire Zaire (), officially the Republic of Zaire (; ), was the name for the Democratic Republic of the Congo that existed between 1971 and 1997 in Central Africa. The country was a one-party totalitarian dictatorship, run by Mobutu Sese Seko and his ruling Popular Movement of the Revolution party. Zaire was established following Mobutu's seizure of power in a military coup in 1965, following five years of political upheaval following independence known as the Congo Crisis. Zaire had a strongly centralist constitution, and foreign assets were nationalised. The period is sometimes referred to as the Second Congolese Republic. A
What Was Lost by night — crowded with shoppers during the day, but empty and bleak at night. She found ideas for her book from her job in the Merry Hill Shopping Centre near Dudley in the West Midlands. "What Was Lost" was rejected by 20 agents and publishers before being accepted for publication by Tindal Street Press, a small Birmingham publisher. "What Was Lost" is a mystery story about a missing girl. It is also a portrait of a changing community over twenty years. It examines modern life's emptiness, and society's obsession with shopping. "What Was Lost" is set in the city