Wholesale Rosa Mistika: A Novel

Rosa Mistika: A Novel by Euphrase Kezilahabi A controversial Swahili classic by one of Tanzania’s most revered writers, banned on publication and finally translated into English   Teenage Rosa lives with her parents and four younger sisters in a village on Ukerewe Island in Lake Victoria, where she attends the local school and helps out on the family farm. Life would be relatively peaceful if it weren’t for Rosa’s father, who drinks to oblivion and abuses his wife and daughters. Initially relieved to be admitted into a residential school on the mainland, Rosa soon discovers that she’s ill prepared for life outside her village. As she becomes accustomed to the attention—and manipulations—of men, she begins to understand her sexuality as a weapon.