Nsuuta claims to be able to rid Kirabo of this first state, but refuses to do so until she has learned all the facts about it to be able to make an informed decision. We were not squeezed inside, we were huge, strong, bold, loud, proud, brave, independent.

Nsuuta, however, views the experiences as proof that Kirabo is in the state of the mythical first women, free and powerful.

Kirabo seeks her out because – in what might be a magic realist twist or perhaps a depiction of a form of epilepsy – she has out-of-body experiences, her spirit floating up to the ceiling or the sky and she hopes that Nsuuta’s witchcraft can help heal her. We learn of Miiro’s eminence and status in the village, of the deeply patriarchal societies, of the limited ambitions open to women.Ībove all, we meet Nsuuta, Kirabo’s grandmother’s ancient rival, whose “feud was Mount Kilimanjaro”, and whom the village has deemed a witch. We meet the village and the culture as we see Kirabo negotiating her relationships with Alikisa and Miiro, with her best friend, Giibwa, and lover, Sio, with the local community embodied in the gossipy Widow Diba, and Ssozi the local shopkeeper. Through Kirabo, Makumbi unfolds her depiction of village life in a wonderfully natural and organic way. The novel is in many ways split between the traditional and the modern, just as Uganda itself was split between its traditional cultural heritage and its colonial, international identity. This is her journey to discovery of her self, to discover what it is to be a woman in Ganda culture, what it is to negotiate the traditional and the colonial. She transitions then to her father Tom’s modern house in Kampala with his second wife and their children, to a boarding school and back to Nattetta again at the age of 19. Initially we meet her as she is living with her grandparents – Alikisa and Miiro – in their rural, traditional village life in Nattetta in May 1975. Kirabo is a wonderful creation and a charming character to spend time with in the novel as we bear witness to her progression from from child to adult. She is precocious and courageous enough to insist on telling stories to the teenagers, her aunts and uncles, who come to live with her grandfather to be educated she is vulnerable enough that the question Where is my mother? cut her “like razors”. Meet Kirabo Nnamiiro: Ugandan, a member of the Ganda tribe, twelve years old and living with her grandparents.

Jennifer nansubuga makumbi books