Coming to Birth.

Coming to Birth by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, December 2000, $30.00, ISBN 1-558-61253-X

When it was first published in 1986, Coming to Birth earned Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye the Sinclair Prize in recognition of a novel of social and political significance. It was her debut novel, and Macgoye, now one of contemporary Kenya's most widely known and respected writers, became the first African woman to win this prestigious prize. In this outstanding work of fiction, the author traces the coming-of-age of Paulina, a young girl from rural Western Kenya, through her difficult marriage and life in urban Nairobi against the historical backdrop of Kenya's struggles, from the 1950s through the 1970s to achieve nationhood and cope with the challenges of independence.

Each of the novel's seven chapters relates a significant stage of Paulina's growth and corresponding chronological developments in Kenya's history. Throughout the story, Paulina's fears, hopes, failures and successes parallel Kenya's growing pains as she unfolds into an increasingly aware and self-reliant woman.

Macgoye's writing is clear and often lyrical, and the novel is strengthened by the deft use of recurring images of pregnancy, labor, miscarriage, infertility, birth and death that highlight both Paulina's and Kenya's efforts at coming to birth. This intricately woven novel also emphasizes issues involved in overcoming the constraints of a patriarchal society, and the ways in which ordinary people like Paulina are affected by history. With an afterword by Roger Kurtz and a historical context by Jean Hay, Macgoye's novel is both an engrossing read, and an enriching study of the personal and political history of one of East Africa's largest nations.

Denolyn Carroll is an assitant managing editor at Essence magazine, freelance writer and lectures on writing and editing at Pace University, New York.