Overview

In this indelible memoir that recalls the life of her remarkable ninety-five-year old grandmother, Guardian journalist Aida Edemariam tells the story of modern Ethiopia--a nation that would undergo a tumultuous transformation from feudalism to monarchy to Marxist revolution to democracy, over the course of one century. Born in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar in about 1916, Yetemegnu was married and had given birth before she turned fifteen. As the daughter of a socially prominent man, she also offered her husband, a poor yet gifted student, the opportunity to become an important religious leader. Over the next decades Yetemegnu would endure extraordinary trials: the death of some of her children; her husband's imprisonment; and the detention of one of her sons. She witnessed the Fascist invasion of Ethiopia and the subsequent resistance, suffered Allied bombardment and exile from her city; lived through a bloody revolution and the nationalization of her land. She gained audiences with Emperor Haile Selassie I to argue for justice for her husband, for revenge, and for her children's security, and fought court battles to defend her assets against powerful men. But sustained, in part, by her fierce belief in the Virgin Mary and in Orthodox Christianity, Yetemegnu survived. She even learned to read, in her sixties, and eventually made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Told in Yetemegnu's enthralling voice and filled with a vivid cast of characters--emperors and empresses, priests and scholars, monks and nuns, archbishops and slaves, Marxist revolutionaries and wartime double agents--The Wife's Tale introduces a woman both imperious and vulnerable; a mother, widow, and businesswoman whose deep faith and numerous travails never quashed her love of laughter, mischief and dancing; a fighter whose life was shaped by direct contact with the volatile events that transformed her nation. An intimate memoir that offers a panoramic view of Ethiopia's recent history, The Wife's Tale takes us deep into the landscape, rituals, social classes, and culture of this ancient, often mischaracterized, richly complex, and unforgettable land--and into the heart of one indomitable woman.

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9781538502464

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At once a poignant, intimate memoir, a revelatory history and a formally inventive work in which the truth is made as strange as the best fiction. -- Judges of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Awards for Nonfiction Elegantly descriptive...Offers a glimpse into a singularly fascinating culture and history as it celebrates the courage, resilience, and grace of an extraordinary woman. -- Kirkus Reviews Edemariam, a journalist who works in the UK and North America, paints a rich portrait of her grandmother's full life, telling Yetemegnu's stories through lyrical prose interspersed with poetry, prayers, and legends. Readers will appreciate Edemariam's work-part memoir, part history-for its personal look at an eventful century in Ethiopia. -- Booklist

"At once a poignant, intimate memoir, a revelatory history and a formally inventive work in which the truth is made as strange as the best fiction. -- ""Judges of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Awards for Nonfiction"" Edemariam, a journalist who works in the UK and North America, paints a rich portrait of her grandmother's full life, telling Yetemegnu's stories through lyrical prose interspersed with poetry, prayers, and legends. Readers will appreciate Edemariam's work-part memoir, part history-for its personal look at an eventful century in Ethiopia. -- ""Booklist"" Elegantly descriptive...Offers a glimpse into a singularly fascinating culture and history as it celebrates the courage, resilience, and grace of an extraordinary woman. -- ""Kirkus Reviews"""

Author Information

Aida Edemariam, whose father is Ethiopian and mother Canadian, grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She studied English literature at Oxford University and the University of Toronto, and has worked as a journalist in New York, Toronto, and London. She is now a senior feature writer and editor for the Guardian, writing on everything from books to politics and the aircraft industry. She lives in Oxford. Adjoa Andoh is an Audie Award and Earphones Award-winning narrator and an actress of British film, television, stage, and radio. She is known on the UK stage for lead roles at the RSC, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, and the Almeida Theatre, and she is a familiar face on British television. She made her Hollywood debut starring as Nelson Mandela's chief of staff, Brenda Mazikubo, alongside Morgan Freeman as Mandela in Clint Eastwood's Invictus.

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