Product Description

Abie has followed the arc of a letter from London back to Africa, to the coffee groves of Kholifa Estates, the plantation formerly owned by her grandfather. It is a place she remembers from childhood and which now belongs to her - if she wants it. Standing among the ruined groves she strains to hear the sound of the past, but the 'layers of years' in between then and now are too many. So begins her gathering of the family's history through the tales of her aunts. This is the story of four lives: Asana, Mariama, Hawa and Serah Kholifa, born to the different wives of a wealthy plantation owner in an Africa where change is just beginning to arrive. Asana, lost twin and head-wife's daughter. Hawa, motherless child and manipulator of her own misfortune. Mariama, who sees what lies beyond this world. And Serah, follower of a Western-made dream. Stretching across generations and set against the backdrop of a country's descent into freefall, Ancestor Stones is a stunning novel about understanding the past; how stories ancient and new shape who we become and a different way of seeing the world we share. It is the story of a nation, a family and four women's attempts to alter quietly the course of their own destiny.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #429079 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Review
Praise for THE DEVIL THAT DANCED ON THE WATER: 'A deeply affecting and beautifully written book which transcends the sordid story of a power-hungry, murderous and corrupt regime It emerges defiantly as an uplifting and marvellously readable memoir.' Justin Marozzi, Financial Times 'She has lifted out of herself the emotional and cultural world of her childhood and represented it in scenes of startling beauty and tragedy. Few books merit being called courageous; this one does.' Rachel Cusk, Evening Standard 'This is a book of quite extraordinary power and beauty. Aminatta Forna has excavated not only her memory but the hidden recesses of the heart.' Fergal Keane 'Forna has written a book that is impossible to forget This is an obsessive, driven, refreshing book about Africa, despotism and exile. It is also a beautifully drawn portrait of childhood it is a triumph of life against the odds. And in its conclusion, there is a sanity that is, simply, majestic.' Christopher Hope, Independent

Metro
'Small details illuminate this unfamiliar culture and Forna
carries us through her novel with an enviable knack for storytelling'

Daily Ireland
'Beautiful novel by a great writer who always gives you a sense
that you are eavesdropping on whispered conversations'

Customer Reviews

An African God of Small Things
I could not put this book down. It is the most compelling a refreshing thing I have read in years!

This is the story of one family, the Kholifa's, told through the stories of four sisters. They are all daughters of a polygamous wealthy plantation owner, but of different mothers, giving each woman a very different place in the family and different life chances. At the same time the country they are in - which is never named, the author is from Sierra Leone - is going through changes: colonialism, independence, dictatorship, war. But the stories that are told from their lives, whilst reflecting the wider dimensions, are seen through a narrow lens that focuses on the detail. A little girl takes her revenge on the village after her mother dies. An older wife helps a younger wife escape a loveless marriage. Serah, the youngest and the one sister who follows the Western dream, gets her first pair of (red) shoes, falls in love - and unwittingly and hilariously fakes an election result. A woman, waiting for her soldier son to return home, sells her gold earrings to buy a packet of sugar just to keep up appearances. In one of the most frightening and poignant scenes, an old woman hides in a wooden chest and watches through a hole while rebel soldiers ransack the town. Each chapter is written from the perspective of one of the chracters and as a self-contained story. But it all adds up to an awesome whole. It is a peephole into a world I never knew, and when I finished it I was left wanting a whole lot more. It is also written in the most lyrical prose, which suffuses the whole book - though some of the subjects are grim - with a sense of beauty. I have read quite a few books by Asian authors, but only just been introduced to writing from Africa. I would compare this to the God of Small Things - especially with the focus on tiny details of life. I read Half of a Yellow Sun, after seeing it on Richard & Judy. If you liked that you'll like this. It is different in lots of ways, but just as good.

Uplifiting
I bought this novel after reading a review in the Times Literary Supplement (I had already read the authors memoir The Devil that Danced on the Water). I loved the lush writing and the way the novel is structured into different chapters which are almost short stories, each one dated and narrated by a different aunt. Even though it deals with some grim subjects: polygamay, expoloitation, war, - it is a really beautiful novel. People still swim in the river and fall in love and cherish their children. It left me - just as The Devil that Danced on the Water - with a sense of having been uplifted by the journey, for all its harrowing twists and turns.

Power and Soul
Somebody gave me a copy of this book as a present this Christmas. I finished it inside 48 hours! It is terrific. Completely unexpected. The women's stories are so beautiful and moving I found myself in tears at times. The writing is stunning, very poetic - which is where it is actually better than Half of a Yellow Sun, though the story and country are less well known. It is about family, love, war, old ways, new ways. You won't be disappointed. Fantastic.