JENNIFER NANSUBUGA MAKUMBI

JENNIFER MAKUMBI IS A GENIUS STORYTELLER.' Reni Eddo-LodgeA SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER, DAILY MAIL, BBC CULTURE & IRISH INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEARA WATERSTONES BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAROPRAH MAGAZINE BEST OF 2020A TIME MAGAZINE MUST-READ BOOK OF 2020A 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.

Kirabo, la joven protagonista de La primera mujer, nace y crece en Nattetta, un pueblo de Uganda, en la casa de sus abuelos. Ese entorno protegido que comparte con el clan familiar traza el mapa emocional de su infancia, marcado por la ausencia de su madre, una herida silenciosa que la impulsa a preguntar y a imaginar. Yaunque la familia intenta retenerla, Kirabo emprende una busqueda que la lleva hasta Nsuuta, bruja del pueblo y guardiana de muchos otros secretos.A traves del contacto con la anciana, Kirabo descubre que la rebeldia que arde en su interior es el legado de ?la primera mujer', aquella que fue libre y completa; unarquetipo femenino originario, indomito y temido por una sociedad que ha domesticado los cuerpos y las voces de las mujeres. En esta cronica multigeneracional, intima, divertida y conmovedora, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi explora con brillantez temas como la maternidad, la fuerza del clan, la colonizacion o la libertad, y nos muestra como la sabiduria femenina del pasado resuena en el presente y proyecta su eco hacia el futuro.