Praise
Praise for Joyful Song of the Partridge
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Chiziane’s prose, which at times slips into stream of consciousness, is replete with images . . . Most are beautiful . . . This novel is evidence that [Chiziane’s] writing still resonates.
— Franklin Nelson, Times Literary Supplement
The sinewy and striking latest from Chiziane . . . artfully portrays the intricacies of Mozambican life and the country’s racial tensions . . . Chiziane’s winding narrative emerges as a scathing indictment of colonialism’s impact on the lives of women.
— Publishers Weekly
[The Joyful Song of the Partridge] is a paean to women . . . a superbly told tale, this English translation is long overdue.
— The Modern Novel
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
"In The Joyful Song of the Patridge, sanity confronts lunacy. Through mythmaking and demystification, Paulina Chiziane turns the tragedy of tradition into decolonial fantasies of national reconciliation, reconstruction of history, and magical female empowerment. Beyond a collector of memories, Paulina Chiziane recounts Mozambican past with the fervent tranquility of a modern visionary and griot.
— Niyi Afolabi
Chiziane, the first Mozambican woman to publish a novel after the country gained independence in 1990 . . . takes up the story of an unfortunate woman’s parents, born into poverty while the country is under Portuguese rule . . . The cruel racial hierarchy of colonization, internalized, plays out within the microcosm of her family . . . A story ultimately about Mozambique itself, and the struggles and hopes of its people.
— Kirkus Reviews
Praise for The First Wife
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Chiziane alternates between a dramatic, high-octane 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
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
I’d known from reading Paulina Chiziane’s The First Wife that she’s a writer who embraces wide-ranging emotional shifts and ambitious themes. With The Joyful Song of the Partridge, she goes even deeper into both modes—this is a novel about Mozambique’s history, about the practice and legacy of colonialism, and the moral compromises people make in order to survive. It’s a novel that plays out on scales both intimate and international, and rarely goes where you’d expect.
— Tobias Carroll, Words Without Borders
