Winter of My Spring - by Fartumo Kusow (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Perfect for readers of The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, a searing and timely novel of survival, resilience, and reclaiming identity in the face of unthinkable adversity.

Set in the Lower Shabeele region of Somalia, Winter of My Spring is a story of what happens to Rada and her friends Mika and Sara after they are kidnapped by Al-Shabaab and forced to become child brides. For months, the girls live in fear and endure the harshest of conditions among their extremist kidnappers--but after Rada and Mika see Sara die as a suicide bomber, they know they must escape.

After running away from their captors, Rada and Mika manage to return home, only to find themselves rejected by their community because they've "known a man's bed" and are therefore, according to their customs, considered ruined and broken women.

Winter of My Spring explores what happens to kidnapped girls during their captivity and after they survive the violence and abuse of their abductors. Like the protagonist in Call Her Freedom, by Tara Dorabji, Rada and Mika are forced to navigate a world that denies them autonomy, yet they find resilience and hope in the process of healing and self-discovery.

About the Author

Fartumo Kusow was born in Somalia but immigrated to Canada in 1991 at the start of Somalia's civil war. Her novel Tale of a Boon's Wife, published in 2017, received positive reviews from Harvard Review, Booklist, and This Magazine. Her first novel, Amran, was serialized in October Star, Somalia's national newspaper, in 1984. She is the creator and host of two podcasts: Break the Silence, Build a Future, dedicated to advocacy and empowering survivors of intimate partner violence, and My Mother: The Person and the Patient. Fartumo lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.