Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

The First Woman

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“Makumbi is such an honest, truthful writer. … I loved every single page.” —Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage

A Best Book of the Year at TIMEThe Washington PostO, the Oprah Magazine; BBC
Longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize

In her thirteenth year, Kirabo confronts a piercing question: who is my mother? Kirabo has been raised by women in the small Ugandan village of Nattetta—her grandmother, her best friend, and her many aunts—but the absence of her mother follows her like a shadow. Seeking answers from Nsuuta, the local witch, Kirabo learns about the woman who birthed her, who she discovers is alive but not ready to meet. Nsuuta also helps Kirabo understand the emergence of a mysterious second self, a headstrong and confusing force inside her—this, says Nsuuta, is a streak of the “first woman”: an independent, original state that has been all but lost to women.

Kirabo’s journey to reconcile these feelings, alongside her desire to reconnect with her mother and to honor her family’s expectations, is rich in the folklore of Uganda and an arresting exploration of what it means to be a modern girl in a world that seems determined to silence women. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s A Girl is a Body of Water is an unforgettable, sweeping testament to the true and lasting connections between history, tradition, family, friends, and the promise of a different future.
This book is currently unavailable
466 printed pages
Original publication
2020
Publication year
2020
Have you already read it? How did you like it?
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Impressions

  • Beenzu Muzyambashared an impression2 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    🔮Hidden Depths
    💡Learnt A Lot
    🎯Worthwhile

    A deep book!

  • murungiatuhairweshared an impression4 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    🔮Hidden Depths
    💡Learnt A Lot
    🎯Worthwhile
    🌴Beach Bag Book
    🚀Unputdownable

    Such a great story with lots of lessons, explaining feminism in the simplest terms.

Quotes

  • Beenzu Muzyambahas quoted2 years ago
    ‘Promise me you will pass on the story of the first woman – in whatever form you wish. It was given to me by women in captivity. They lived an awful state of migration, my grandmothers. Telling origin stories was their act of resistance. I only added on a bit here and a bit there.
  • Beenzu Muzyambahas quoted2 years ago
    ‘The minute we fall silent, someone will fill the silence for us.’
  • Beenzu Muzyambahas quoted2 years ago
    If we acquiesce in hiding our bodies, we allow the myths to stay.’
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