Cover of Miriam's Song: A Memoir

Miriam's Song: A Memoir

"Mark Mathabane first came to prominence with the publication of Kaffir Boy which became a New York Times bestseller. His story of growing up in South Africa was one of the most riveting accounts of life under apartheid. Mathabane's newest book, Miriam's Song, is the Story of Mark's sister, who was left behind in South Africa.

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It is the tale of a woman - representative of an entire generation - who came of age amid the violence and rebellion of the 198O's and finally saw the destruction of apartheid and the birth of a new and democratic South Africa. Mathabane writes in Miriam's voice, based on stories she told him, but he has re-created her unforgettable experience as only someone who also lived through it could. The immediacy of the hardships that brother and sister endured - from daily school beatings to near-overwhelming poverty - is balanced by the beauty of their childhood observations and the true affection that they have for each other.

Miriam emerges as both an innocent child drawn into the war against apartheid and a strong woman forever changed by the struggles, brutality, and politics of the world around her."—BOOK JACKET.

Audience
adult

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Liked Miriam's Song: A Memoir? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Miriam's Song: A Memoir. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Calling of Katie Makanya: A Memoir of South Africa Shares Africa, memoir, nonfiction
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  3. The Ponds of Kalambayi Shares Africa, memoir, nonfiction
  4. Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch: A Memoir Shares memoir, Africa, South Africa

“People who read Miriam's Song: A Memoir tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Stealing Water: A Secret Life in an African City
  2. Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex
  3. Singing Away the Hunger: The Autobiography of an African Woman
  4. Diary of an Ugly Duckling

“If you want more of the same (biography about race), start with these.”

  1. Down Second Avenue: Growing Up in a South African Ghetto
  2. To My Children's Children
  3. Every Secret Thing: My Family, My Country
  4. The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist

“If it was the memoir that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Cathedral of the Wild: An African Journey Home
  2. Lost and Found in Johannesburg: A Memoir
  3. The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood
  4. Shirley, Goodness & Mercy: A Childhood in Africa

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Mother to Mother
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  3. A Walk in the Night and Other Stories
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