Sixtus Ndung'u / Sixtus Ndung’u
Librería Samer Atenea
Librería Aciertas (Toledo)
Kálamo Books
Librería Perelló (Valencia)
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Donde los libros
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
CONTENT: Some of the harassments emanated from the child’s adventurous feats. Every child sought adventure within the environment surrounding her in the course of growing up. It was during these adventures that the girl-child found herself in the middle of some form of harassments. Other harassments were designed and condoned by the society in which the girl-child was born and bred. Parents and society at large had some influence and part to play in the mishandling of the girl-child. Today their participation as such would be viewed as criminal harassment. Society then viewed women, from childhood to adulthood, as subjects of men. Women were at the disposal of men and men could use them in the manner they wished, irrespective of gaping infringement of human dignity. The girl-child had very few human rights, as it were, in the eyes of the society. They were, to say the least, properties of parents who sold them for bride-price and, thereafter, properties of men who acquired them after paying the said price. Peer influences and acquaintanceships also molded the girl-child’s life. Girls emulated those with whom they associated most of the time during their growing up. Schoolmates and, later, workmates had great influence in a growing girl. It was only an outstanding hardcore of a girl who would then wriggle out of the influence and shape her life out of the ordinary. Such a girl would have been termed a rebel in her own right. It is such a girl that is portrayed in the book. The author in the book tries to transverse in all avenues open to a girl-child growing during the period. That is the story in itself. The life described through the created female character was the actual life witnessed by the author in his youth. The author lived around the environment and situations described in the story. The mixture of local languages is an emphasis of what would be otherwise difficult to portray in English, which is not the author’s first language. The local dialects used have, however, been interpreted into English as far as it was possible with the author. The dialects add some salt to the story for readers. Sexual harassments and sex education led the author into using some shy language. The story could not be complete without the use of such terms. The names of the characters in the story are fictitious although they are names in common use locally. The name of the author, for information, carries an apostrophe (’) between ’g’ and ’u’ to give a special pronunciation. The English used in writing the book is mostly British because the author was educated under the British system of education.137
