The Girl Who Married a Lion: and Other Tales from Africa

Summary

From the author of the phenomenally successful, New York Times bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency mystery series, comes this spellbinding collection of African folktales from Zimbabwe and Botswana.

When a woman becomes the target of ridicule from her husband’s new wife, the jilted woman befriends a talking guinea fowl, who helps her get revenge. In another tale, a young woman who lives in a cave falls victim to the wicked scheming of a dangerous cannibal. And when a woman suspects her husband is actually a lion, she asks her brother for help in driving the cunning beast away from her and her two sons—who may also be lions!

The more than 30 stories in this wonderful anthology have a uniquely African flair, but still manage to tap into ideas—love, jealousy, ambition—that are universally human. And since folktales are part of an oral history, hearing them spoken aloud by a cast of wonderfully talented, completely authentic narrators is pure magic.