The Present Moment

Published in conjunction with the award-winning Coming to Birth, this novel is the first U. S. release of a major force in East African literature. Of her ability to both empathize with her characters and capture their complex levels, the Weekly Review said, "Macgoye?s major virtue as a writer and social critic is the inclusiveness of her vision. Nothing human is alien to her. She refuses to bestow virtue or villainy along ideological or gender lines."

The Present Moment tells the story of seven unforgettable Kenyan women as it traces more than sixty years of turbulent national history. Like their country, these women are divided by ethnicity, language, class, and religion. But around the charcoal fire at the Refuge, the old-age home they share, they uncover the hidden personal histories that connect them as women: stories of their struggles for self-determination; of conflict, violence, and loss, but also of survival. As they reflect upon their tragedies, they also become aware of the community they have formed?a community of collective history, strength, humor, and affection. A chronology by Jean Hay provides U. S. readers with context on Kenyan history.

"Marjorie Macgoye paints a group portrait colored by deep respect, compassion, and admiration."?Commonwealth Today (Great Britain)

"With the vividly specific economy of the best poetry . . . [Macgoye] confers a stature and significance on humble lives; or, rather, shows that behind the most unpromising human façades lurk lives of extraordinary courage, enterprise, and resilience."?Sunday Nation (Kenya)

Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye is the award-winning author of Coming to Birth, as well as many other novels and volumes of poetry. The first African woman writer to receive the Sinclair Prize in 1986, she lives in Nairobi, Kenya.

Valerie Kibera has taught European and African literature at Kenyatta University, Nairobi. She is editor of An Anthology of East African Short Stories.

Jean Hay teaches history at the African Studies Center of Boston University.