AMAN the story of a Somali girl

Ardent, irrepressible, skeptical, and devout, the narrator of this astonishing book is both an authentic African heroine and a guide to a country that most of us know only through harrowing television news footage. Aman was born in the arid Somalian bush as her mother and grandmother were leading their herds to water. At the age of nine she underwent a ritual clitoridectomy. At eleven she saw her innocent romance with a white boy end in murder. By the time she was thirteen, Aman had been given away in an arranged marriage and had run away to Mogadishu, a city whose temptations and dangers were matched by her vitality and courage.

In language whose eloquence is as winning as its candor, Aman tells us her story, opening a window onto traditional Somali life. Hers is a world in which women are both chattel and freewheeling entrepreneurs, subject to the caprices of male relatives, yet keenly aware of the loopholes that lead to freedom. Whether Aman's story is read as cultural anthropology or as the true adventures of an unforgettable young woman, the result is a breathtaking and extraordinary book.