Book Description
No one knows where Maria des Dores came from. Did she ride in on the armored spines of crocodiles, was she carried many miles in the jaws of fish? The only clear fact is that she is here, sitting naked in the river bordering a town where nothing ever happens. The townspeople murmur restlessly that she is possessed by perverse impulses. They interpret her arrival as an omen of crop failure or, in more hopeful tones, a sign that womankind will soon seize power from the greedy hands of men. As The Joyful Cry of the Partridge unfolds, Paulina Chiziane spirals back in time to Maria’s true origins: the days of Maria’s mother and father when the pressure to assimilate in Portuguese-controlled Mozambique formed a distorting bond on the lives of black Mozambicans. A potent whirl of history, mythology, and grapevine chatter, The Joyful Cry of the Partridge absorbs you into its many hiding places, and lures you along the wandering paths of its principal characters, whose stark words will stay with you long after the journey is done.
Praise for Paulina Chiziane and The Joyful Cry of the Partridge—
Paulina, the “storyteller,” steps away from the circle around the fire and puts on her novel-writing hat . . . and observing, scrutinizing, listening, capturing, analyzing and studying the deep complexities of her country, provides us with this delight. — Nataniel Ngomane
Chiziane alternates between a dramatic, high-octave style and a terse and humorous frankness . . . She expresses the peaks of emotion, while never forgetting the part of the self which evaluates oneself.— Sheila Heti, London Review of Books
Praise for The First Wife—
What happens when women demand back what they once gave up for love and marriage? Full of surprising turns, wicked humor, and vivid language, The First Wife is an incredible story about men and women, and the promises made and broken between them. It will stay with you long after the last page. — Maaza Mengiste
In the style that characterizes her writing, the novel pulls no punches, and the polemic it constructs is passionate and engaging. The First Wife is alive with intrigue and happenings . . . It is this sense of strength, of resilience, of passion, and simultaneously of acceptance, of resignation that both excite and irritate that make The First Wife such an enjoyable and provocative read. — Tony Simões da Silva, African Review of Books
Chiziane has crafted a story that is at once an affirmation of African feminism and a rousingly entertaining tale of female friendship that would please any fan of best-selling women’s fiction. — Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Daring, biting in its critique. It describes the plight of women caught between Mozambique's traditional culture and its colonized societies . . . Brave work. — Kirkus Reviews
