The First Woman

'JENNIFER MAKUMBI IS A GENIUS STORYTELLER.' Reni Eddo-Lodge A SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER, DAILY MAIL, BBC CULTURE & IRISH INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR A WATERSTONES BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR OPRAH MAGAZINE BEST OF 2020 A TIME MAGAZINE MUST-READ BOOK OF 2020 A GOOD HOUSEKEEPING BOOK OF THE MONTH (OCTOBER) A BOOKSELLER BOOK OF THE MONTH (OCTOBER) AN AL JAZEERA PICK: TOP BOOKS BY AFRICAN WRITERS, 2020 For one young girl, discovering what it means to become a woman in a family, a community and a country determined to silence her will take all the courage she has. Growing up in a small Ugandan village, Kirabo is surrounded by powerful women. Her grandmother, her aunts, her friends and cousins are all desperate for her to conform, but Kirabo is inquisitive, headstrong and determined. Up until now, she has been perfectly content with her life at the heart of this prosperous extended family, but as she enters her teenage years, she begins to feel the absence of the mother she has never known. The First Woman follows Kirabo on her journey to becoming a young woman and finding her place in the world, as her country is transformed by the bloody dictatorship of Idi Amin. Jennifer Makumbi has written a sweeping tale of longing and rebellion, at once epic and deeply personal, steeped in an intoxicating mix of ancient Ugandan folklore and modern feminism, that will linger in the memory long after the final page.