Crossroads

African women stand at a crossroads between traditional culture and modern times. Now you can read their own stories in their own words in what one African reader describes as "an intriguing collection of human experiences in a fantastic yet delicate basket...a cultural keepsake."

What do you do when your education qualifies you for high-level professional work but your culture says you, as a woman, should kneel before men? When sex education stresses how girls should please men - even by making painful changes to their own bodies? Or when your family haggles with your fiance's family over how many cows you are worth?

Similarly, how would you make sense of your life if you spent your childhood sleeping in the bush every night to avoid marauding rebel soldiers? If you were held and tortured in a secret prison on a vague suspicion that you were linked to an enemy of the government? If imported religions tell you to denounce your parents' and grandparents' faith? Or if western-trained doctors can't heal local afflictions but many of your peers dismiss traditional healers as quacks or witchdoctors?

In describing these and other dilemmas, these African women writers will surprise you as they strike a balance between past and future. Their stories will make you laugh and cry, simultaneously demonstrating what makes Africa unique and celebrating what unites people across cultures. Ultimately, their life stories will leave you celebrating the enduring strength of the human spirit.