"Her book may be written to her children's children, but its messages go beyond bloodlines. It has something to say to the global family about the ravages of racism, the strength of the family and the perseverance of the African spirit."

Magona's memoir is a delightful, poignant, feisty and uplifting story that chronicles, in a refreshing and authentic voice, what it means to attain womanhood in a society where patriarchy and apartheid often conspired to degrade and enslave women economically, domestically, politically, traditionally and sexually."

Her vivid descriptions of Xhosa customs unfold not as an anthropologist's field study but as a memory etched from experience."