“The belief at St Theresa’s was that every girl needs that girlfriend, nfs-nfe, for whom she would prise open the crack of her buttocks to check the pain up there without worrying about the ugliness. Because only a woman knows how to love a woman properly.”

What an epic saga of a book. Spanning the lives of three generations of women against the backdrop of a society moving slowly from tribalism through a violent dictatorship into the modern-day era, it reads both as a lengthy feminist tract and epic family saga. 

Through the lives of Kirabo and her elders, Uganda’s patriarchal tribal system is portrayed in a fascinating way and the women’s quiet acts of resistance revealed: “every woman resists. Often in private. Most of our resistance is so everyday, women don’t think twice about it. It is life.”

Kirabo is raised by her grandparents in their village before being whisked off to the big city, Kampala, to live with her father and his family. Her life is a blend of (seemingly, to us) outdated traditions and modernity, of forward-thinking elders who believe in the education of girls, and archaic customs that maintain that a man’s children be raised by his family’s clan upon his death, neglecting a mother’s rights or wishes to her own children. 

I could go on and on about all the poignant matters of feminism, equality and simple humanity that this book has raised, and I could plaster this post with endless quotes taken from the text (the one at the top my absolute favourite, not only because the imagery made me laugh, but also because we all know, it’s true!), but I don’t think a short post would do this epic book much justice.

Yes, it’s a long read and it did take me a while, but it’s so very worth it to learn about a country and about a culture that I really didn’t know anything about before this book. So thank you to the author and thank you to Netgalley and Oneworld for allowing me such a titillating insight into the lives of ordinary Ugandans. I’d definitely recommend!

In The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, we follow a young Ugandan girl, Kirabo, from the ages of 12 to 18 in the 1970s and 1980s, as she works out what kind of a woman she’s going to be. She has never known her mother; at the beginning of the book, she lives with her paternal grandparents Miiro and Alikisa in rural Nattetta, then she moves in with her father Tom and his family in urban Kampala, before going to boarding school.

Kirabo’s curiosity about her mother runs throughout the book to greater or lesser degrees, alongside several other themes. These include female friendship, the power of stories, the legacy of colonialism, and conflicts between tradition and modernity, country and city, and women’s compliance and independence.

I found The First Woman fascinating, and loved watching Kirabo develop as a character. Right from the start, she’s faced with conflicting messages from Alikisa, and Alikisa’s rival and neighbourhood ‘witch’ Nsuuta. The former values propriety and submission, and regards sex as dirty, while the latter champions women’s ‘original state’ of assertiveness and strength before they stifled themselves to please men, and is far more positive about sex. I enjoyed the scenes early on in the book where Kirabo sneaks off to Nsuuta’s to hear Ugandan stories that are used to explain the place of women in society, and considers the power of storytelling in maintaining established hierarchies.

What Kirabo doesn’t know at the beginning is that when they were growing up, Alikisa and Nsuuta were best friends, and it was these conflicting attitudes that eventually drove them apart. I loved the section of the book that told their story in the 1930s and 1940s, as Nsuuta is an especially interesting character - she had a marriage partner lined up, but she went against her family’s wishes and broke things off to train as a nurse instead. I also liked reading about Kirabo’s friendships, particularly with her childhood playmate Giibwa; as they grow older, a gulf opens between them partly due to their differences in social status, which did not affect them as children.

Even when she’s at boarding school, where the students are expected to excel across fifteen subjects and feminism is the default, Kirabo still can’t escape these conflicting visions of womanhood. Her experiences of going to an all-girls’ school matched mine: even though the students are in what should be a feminist utopia, they nonetheless compete with one another for male attention and police each other’s relationships with boys, shaming girls whose behaviour they don’t approve of. Kirabo herself gets a boyfriend, Sio, and has to take care to protect her reputation.

Another thing I found interesting about The First Woman was how it deals with polygamy. The story takes place over a time period when attitudes overlap: some rural families still practice it, but others who have been influenced by Christianity reject it, as do most urbanites. Nor do all women see polygamy as a bad thing; some see it as an opportunity to share reproductive and domestic labour, and as children, Alikisa and Nsuuta plan to marry the same man so they can always be together.

On the surface, men hold all the power in terms of land, inheritance, and so on. However, despite this, women exercise a surprising amount of power by policing one another and deciding who can be part of the family. This is especially true of Kirabo’s great-aunt Nsangi, who acts as an arbiter of family affairs and dominates Miiro as his older sister. With the possible exception of her beloved grandfather, it’s women who have the most influence over Kirabo’s life and attitudes. They also possess comically low expectations of men - though it isn’t so funny for poor Kirabo when her Aunt Abi fights Sio’s corner and thinks Kirabo’s been too harsh on him when he does her wrong!

The First Woman is a fascinating Ugandan coming-of-age tale that contains multitudes.

Why penned hens peck each other

‘My grandmothers called it kweluma. That is when oppressed people turn on each other or on themselves and bite. It is as a form of relief. If you cannot bite your oppressor, you bite yourself.’

The First Woman is a feast of Ugandan history, language, culture, mythology but above all mwenkanonkano—a Luganda word that loosely translates as feminism, but the concept is older, local, not something imported from the west.

‘Any mwenkanonkano is radical. Talk about equality and men fall in epileptic fits.’

This is a novel about Kirabo, a bright, driven young girl coming of age in 1970s Uganda. We follow Kirabo as she navigates a world shaped by patriarchy, colonialism, Idi Amin’s brutal regime, and complex overlapping hierarchies of clans, classes and ethnic groups. Kirabo’s extended family has its share of secrets and long-held grudges, not least of which is the identity of Kirabo’s own mother.

It sounds like a lot, but really this is a personal, character-driven story about Kirabo and her family. The rest is context—necessary context—not a history lecture. However, at times the novel favours explanatory detail over action. For instance, when Kirabo moves to boarding school, a lot of time is spent establishing this new setting, new characters and social hierarchy… but very little happens there, and the action soon moves away from the school again.

Like gravity and the tides, kweluma and mwenkanonkano are the forces that move this story. One or both of these influence every piece of the drama—friendships slowly eroding or smashing apart, first love, deaths and marriages. They even shape the stories that are passed down, whether they be ancient myths or recent family history. A rich and rewarding read.

I absolutely loved reading The First Woman. With an insight into Ugandan society and the role and status of women, among other things, The First Woman captured my attention right from the beginning.  Makumbi is a writer who writes very well and i will definitely be looking forward to reading whatever next she writes. A fresh voice, Makumbi's novel is bound to catch hold of its readers. 

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC.

The First Woman is an interesting, if sometimes inaccessible, read about the role of women in Ugandan society. 

Kirabo, the main character, is a young teenager in the 1970s amid the backdrop of Idi Amin’s rule, and the book follows her coming of age story through to young adulthood. Her story is told using a feminist lens, and is also much influenced by Ugandan mythology as frequently allegory is used to illustrate the power of women re their hidden depths and quiet struggles over time. 

Kirabo is reared by her paternal grandparents; her father lives and works in the city and her mother is unknown to her. She seeks to know more about her mother and how to navigate this patriarchal society by getting the advice and wisdom of Nsuuta, the local witch of the community. 

As the story evolves we see that there was a childhood friendship between Nsuuta and Kirabo’s grandmother, Alikisa, but it appears that Kirabo’s grandfather Miiro came between the two women and their friendship descended into one mired in secrets and mistrust. This once close bond between the two women is echoed in Kirabo’s life with her love Sio and her childhood friend, Giibwa.

The book follows as Kirabo somehow has to find her place in the world where she can be a woman who is free to love, free to be educated, free to follow her chosen career, and also be free to be a mother if that is what she chooses. 

I really enjoyed the feminist angle that this book took. It was really fascinating to see the way feminism was so subtly played in the background of the patriarch-led society of this Uganda, and how it was actually a much more prevalent idea than the book would have you first believe. 

Where the book was a little difficult to follow was with the number of characters that there was to keep track of. There is a cast of key characters at the back of the book which I did frequently refer to but I discovered it a little too late due to the formatting of the ARC copy I was reading. I would very much recommend that any future readers of the novel would bookmark read page so that they can easily refer to it. However, once I had a clear idea of who was who in the novel there was much to be enjoyed from these complex relationships as they were all so delicately layered and finely balanced. This was definitely a novel laden with delicious nuance and subtlety. There was a definite rhythm to the writing style of the author that I had to get used to but once I did the pay off was well worth it. 

On occasion it was a little hard to follow the structure of the narrative. At times I felt that the magical realism vibe was a touch overpowering and thusly tricky to grapple with. I also frequently got confused with the way time was handled in the book. Sometimes an event would happen, and then it felt as if the event had not yet happened for Kirabo and she would describe something that had occurred prior to that event. An example of this was when Kirabo was leaving her grandparents’ residence for the city. I thought she had said goodbye to everyone and then it seemed like she hadn’t and was describing her goodbye to Sio... I’m still in the dark as to what exactly happened with a number of instances in the novel because of this loose nature of the timeline. 

However, on the whole this was a fascinating read even though it was let down on occasion by the narrative structure. But I really enjoyed the saga aspect to the novel, and very much appreciated how the author mirrored the stories of Kirabo and her grandparents; it was really smartly done. The section of the book that focused on Alikisa and Nsuuta as children and young women was very much my favourite part of the novel and really showed the meaning of true feminism underneath the shackles of tradition and patriarchy. 

Recommended to fans of literary fiction who enjoy a book that you need to be an active part of as a reader. 


* An e-copy of this book was kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley. This review contains my honest thoughts and opinions*

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. 

I was very excited to read this having read all of Makumbi’s books. I had high expectations going into this. 

The first woman is a coming of age story of a young lady, Karibo , who grew up knowing she was different from most of the girls in her village who only wanted to be wives and mothers.  

This book explores her life as a young girl who had  no relationship with her mother but desperately craved it. She lived in a patriarchal society where women were reduced to nothing, where education was a disadvantage to women as it could make them unattractive to men and the goal was to get married. I did appreciate that despite being raised in such a patriarchal society, she had people  that introduced her to feminism. 

 I particularly loved her relationship with her aunt Abi. I also really enjoyed her conversation with Sio on feminism but it became obvious that even men that champion feminism or ally’s as they call them will fall your hand. 

This book highlights the different thought process of African women and how they navigate sexism. It explores feminism in a nuanced way.

It started off a bit slow paced and it almost lost my attention but I soon realized that it was a book that needed my undivided attention and patience to savor and soak up its awesomeness. I’ve noticed that Jennifer Makumbi likes books with a lot of characters and is unapologetically Ugandan as the book was filled with Ugandan words and phrases. It was a bit hard to understand at first but as I progressed, it got easier to understand the meaning of these words based on the context in which they were used.

The First Woman explores heavy themes like feminism, sexism, womanhood, marriage, motherhood, family, loss, friendships & Ugandan culture and history. 

TFW was filled with beautiful  prose and amazing dialogues ! Jennifer Makumbi wrote one hell of a book. There is a lot to unpack and discuss and I reckon this will be a fantastic book club read.


This was a wholesome read because it was written by an African woman and she told stories of African women navigating patriarchy and sexism which is so important in the world we live in.

This book was wonderful. It was a great story while also giving more of an insight into life in Uganda, particularly the culture. It was also very well linked with the universal theme of motherhood.

I found this book fascinating and I couldn't put it down!

The story is set in Uganda and follows a young girl named Kirabo as she embarks on her journey into womanhood. Kirabo is growing up in a time where women are changing their role in society and she is keen to follow her own path. Kirabo has a strong family network and while she is respectful to her family, their traditions and beliefs, she is also an independent young woman who wants to create her own path. Rich in family, relationships, friendships and aspirations this book has so many layers. 

Before reading this book I had no knowledge of Ugandan Mythology but I found the book eye opening and an interesting read. 

I felt so drawn to Kirabo's character and this made for an enjoyable read. 

I did find it a little confusing with the many different characters. Due to this being an ARC read I didn't come across the character list on my kindle until the end.

This book was fascinating, there was a wealth of knowledge about Uganda and Ugandan mythology which was such a refreshing read for me as this is a topic where my knowledge is lacking. 
This novel follower the protagonist Kirabo on her journey through life. They way the author wrote relationships was impeccable, the complex families were a little hard to follow however it was worth it once I got it straight in my head. 
This book was a great coming of age novel and it had so much depth many layers to it. 
I would definatley recommend it to others looking for something different than your typical summer blockbuster novel.

This was a fantastic book - set in Uganda in the 1970s, an era and place of which I know very little, we see the protagonist, Kirabo, grow up amongst her extended family. She is being brought up by her grandparents, landowners in the town, as her mother left when she was born. This fascinating novel follows her growing up, the relationships with her friends and family, and her navigation of a patriarchal society. 

With the backdrop of Idi Amin's rule, and powerful men disappearing around her, we follow her as she moves into her father's house in the city, and an upmarket boarding school. The relationships were incredibly well described, and the constraints around women were palpable. 

There is a thread running through the book about the power of women, and links to Ugandan mythology, but I found it to be a really grounded and earthy novel, with so much everyday detail. There are complicated family networks that I did need to use the provided cast of characters to follow, but it was so satisfying when the story moved back in time and we found out the effects of their past actions on Kirabo's life. 

This stunning book is a classic of coming of age feminism. I will be reading the author's first novel and seeking out more Ugandan fiction.

What a ride! I feel naked while reading Makumbi—because there is so much history, and cultural nuances packed into her novels. She makes me aware of how little I know. Makumbi does not dumb it down. Quoting her own words “I don’t write for a Western audience. If I can understand Shakespeare, you can understand me.”

In The First Woman, you will be enamoured by the Ugandan folktales with witches, men and betrayal, or sympathize with the coming of age narrative, or find yourself plunged into patriarchy, colonialism, spread of religion and power dynamics. The First Woman is indefinitely layered and Makumbi leaves it to the reader to find the depth they are looking for. I loved the women in the book, be it the motherless teenager Kirabo (finding and losing love, searching for her mother, trying to understand herself) or the grandmothers who have a long history between them or the wife who is unwelcoming of her husband’s illegitimate child. On a sly sarcastic note, if you are one of those people who equate Africa to a dot on the map instead of the many countries and cultures that make it, or read one hyped book by a black author and tweet ‘I read diverse books’, then let Makumbi cure you.

The First Woman is a wonderfully eye-opening read, that conveys a deeply personal story of one extraordinary woman's upbringing. Her battle to find herself is courageous, and inspiring.

Set in Ugandan mythology, The First Woman is very much a coming of age novel.  It can be read as a companion novel to Kintu, Makumbi’s first novel.  Kirabo is a young teenager who is being raised by her grandparents in a rural village following her Mothers departure when she was a baby.    As she grows older, she looks for explanations as to why her Mother left and searches for her role and direction in life.  This is very much a coming of age book as Kirabo becomes a young woman.  Set in Uganda during Idi Amin’s brutal regime, this particularly torrid period of Ugandan history is always in the background.   

I had not read any of Makumbi’s prior work before, so this novel was very much outside of my reading comfort zone.  Not being a fan of the magic realism genre, I struggled to finish this to be honest.  

Thank you to @netgalley and @oneworldpublications for this free e-book in return for my honest review.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me with an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

This is not my usual genre, I’m more into crime/thriller books and even psychological thrillers too so I  am extremely pleased and grateful to them for opening up my mind to something totally different.

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s The First Woman is a beautiful tale of a girl – Kirabo – growing up in Uganda in the 1970s. 
From the beginning, Kirabo reels you in with her warmth, fondness for storytelling, and curiosity. What follows is a coming-of-age story which deftly weaves in the impact of Amin’s regime, a search for a mother, and an exploration of what it is to be a woman.
I adored this novel – its vivid depictions of rural vs. urban life, its warmth and humour, its political mixed with the personal. 
Highly recommended.

I read Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s Kintu a while ago with the Read Around the World Bookclub and really liked it. The author is from Uganda but now lives in Manchester but both Kintu and her new novel First Woman are set in Uganda. First Woman is essentially a coming of age story, but it is also way more than that. The story starts in 1975, during Amin’s regime and we follow Kirabou’s journey from teenager into womanhood. Amin’s presence and the violence of those years are woven in the background, but the foreground is all about Kirabou: her longing for her birth mother, her sexual awakening, her place in the world. As with Kintu, Ugandan myth plays a huge part in this novel and I would say that even though you don’t need any knowledge of it to enjoy the novel, reading up about it would give you a deeper understanding. A truly feminist novel with some wonderful women characters and relationships. The book was set for a June release and only after reading it, did I realise that it has been pushed to October, I keep forgetting to check the change in dates due to the pandemic.

‘The First Woman’ by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi is the second novel from the award winning author. The novel tells the story of young Kirabo, who is being raised by her grandparents in rural Uganda. Kirabo is surrounded by adoring adults and has plenty of attention but she is lacking is the one thing that she wants most of all – the knowledge of her mother. In order to learn the truth about her mother, Kirabu seeks out the help of a woman considered as a witch and from her she learns the mythology of her people. A mythology that teaches her about the feminist side to the Ugandan stories.  At it’s heart, ‘The First Woman’ is a feminist interpretation of these old Ugandan origin tales. An usual and beautiful story. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC and opportunity to read this book.