Featuring the real-life experiences of contemporary African women who tell of atrocities, pain, motherhood, marriage, love, and courage in their daily life, this gripping collection brings greater awareness to a continuing struggle. Denied a voice by their own culture for centuries, these women speak out for the first time, sharing poignant tales of abuse and womanhood robbed, revealing their methods of survival, and divulging their dreams for themselves and their children. A girl describes hiding under a blanket from the Lord’s Resistance Army in search of child brides; a woman speaks of her family abuse and rejection followed by the deaths of her child and partner only to learn later that the father of her child was already married with eight children and had AIDS. Dramatic, sometimes heartbreaking, often inspiring, this is the first book to truly show what it means to be a 21st-century African woman.

Hilda Twongyeirwe is an author, a poet, and an editor whose work has been featured in Beyond the Dance, Farming Ashes, Never Too Late, Tears of Hope, and A Woman’s Voice. She received a 2008 Certificate of Recognition from the National Book Trust of Uganda for her book Fina the Dancer. She is the coordinator of FEMRITE, Uganda Women Writers' Association. She lives in Kampala, Uganda.