I told you Grandfather is easy. Tom, I mean my father, is the same: they don’t put barriers against me. It is Grandmother, it is always other women, apart from you, who put up barriers against girls and on themselves. I know men can be tyrants, but a lot of women are nasty to women – everybody says it, unless you have not met Jjajja Nsangi, Grandfather’s sister.’ ‘Kirabo, have you seen God come down from heaven to make humans behave?’ ‘No.’ ‘That is because some people have appointed themselves his police. And I tell you, child, the police are far worse than God himself. That is why the day you catch your man with another woman, you will go for the woman and not him. My grandmothers called it kweluma. That is when oppressed people turn on each other or on themselves and bite. It is as a form of relief. If you cannot bite your oppressor, you bite yourself.” It sounds like a lot, but really this is a personal, character-driven story about Kirabo and her family. The rest is context—necessary context—but not a history lecture. However, at times the novel does favour explanatory detail over action a little too much. For instance, when Kirabo moves to boarding school, a lot of time is spent establishing this new setting, new characters and social hierarchy… but very little happens there, and the action soon moves away from the school again.

My second criticism is that it seemed a bit "uncool" in that a lot of the sources for this book were staff members in the residence, former staff members during campaigns, etc. I felt a little bit like some of those people might have betrayed the confidence of the first families in sharing some of these "behind the scenes" stories of our first ladies. It was a little too Kitty Kelley and a little less David McCullough than I like in my histories. We see Kirabo with her friend, their eventual falling out, her first love, her life in Catholic boarding school, and then, once she comes home again, how she navigates the mazes of what it means to be a woman in a patriarchal society and also what family means and how many forms it can take. Based on this book, it seems that women in this society are largely defined by the role they serve to men. They lose their first and last names when they marry, they are expected to play hard to get and be chaste, bonuses are awarded to the family if she abstains until marriage, and girls are only sent to school to become marriageable and drop out and leave their careers for their husbands. Originally set up as a companion to Nansubuga’s debut novel Kintu, the historical sweep of The First Woman is less obvious but the influence and inspiration of the “ancients” is never far from the surface. Kirabo is a character I enjoyed hearing from, I really could not get enough of her world. I delighted in her grown and her growing into her womanhood.The third section has village girl Kirabo attend a prestigious English language boarding school – her time there taking place against the increasing violence and disappearances (including Sio – now her boyfriend’s – father) and then civil war of Amin-era Uganda. The author has named Tsitsi Dangarembga’s “Nervous Conditions” as one of her key literary inspirations – but this reader was inevitably strongly reminded of “The Book of Not”. Miiro was a man after my own heart . I liked how he stood up for the women in his life in his own way.

We can see how the old institutions of family and tribal tradition resist the pressure of time and changing political and economic realities. Uganda of the 20 th century appears as a country tormented by power dynamics, colonialism and tribalism: the tradition of labia elongation still persists, and women who choose more than one sexual partner are doomed to social exile; daughters cannot inherit their parents’ property, and education is only a way to “raise the girl’s value on the marriage market.” Published next month, Diane Watt’s Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650–1100 argues that women were at the heart of the emerging English literary tradition much earlier. Watt, a professor at the University of Surrey, lays out in the book how some anonymous texts from the period were probably created by women, and contends that men rewrote works originally produced by women. Every woman knows a little bit about the author Ayn Rand that she learned from the worst boyfriend she ever had." The first issue, titled "Dream to Reality," was released on Sept. 25 in honor of National Comic Book Day, and just days ahead of World Space Week— an international celebration that runs from Oct. 4 through Oct. 10, with this year's theme celebrating women in space. Kirabo’s character sets the tone in the early stages and it felt like she would dominate the book. It doesn’t turn out like that and her initial promise, her storytelling (she is admiringly described as a griot), the search for her mother, her untrammelled free spirit flying high, wanes as the book continues. The author says this is just how it happened, and was not the original intent (Kirabo was going to be the Nambi that matched Kintu in the Bugandan creation story; but it didn’t emerge that way).I was not entirely sold on Kirabo and Sio’s relationship, a lot of it did not seem realistic and how their story was told didn’t help in making it believable for me. Everywhere was a lightness in the air, one that came only when grown-ups were away. All that loving, that making sure you are okay and behaving, got heavy sometimes.” Was it bad what we were? Is it what makes me do bad things?” Kirabo asks. “No, it was not bad at all,” replies Nsuuta. “In fact, it was wonderful for us. We were not squeezed inside, we were huge, strong, bold, loud, proud, brave, independent. But it was too much for the world and they got rid of it. However, occasionally that state is reborn in a girl like you. But in all cases it is suppressed. In your case the first woman flies out of your body because it does not relate to the way this society is.”

The story of Callie captures how passion, dedication, and perseverance allow us to turn our dreams into reality," Pam Melroy, NASA Deputy Administrator, said in the statement. "Callie, much like myself, grew her skills, seized learning opportunities, and overcame challenges to become a NASA astronaut. Her diversity is reflected in our own astronaut corps today — it's important we can see ourselves as the explorers among the stars." NASA released its first digital, interactive graphic novel, "First Woman: NASA's Promise for Humanity," featuring the story of a fictional astronaut, Callie Rodriguez, who is the first woman and person of color to explore the moon. (Image credit: NASA) Particularly memorable among the many entertaining moments throughout the book, are how differing members of Kirabo’s family react to her blossoming sexuality. This is referred to as her “ruins”, by an increasingly alarmed grandmother and she is told, “That is your flower, explore it, love it, find out what it is capable of before you hand it over to a man” by her city-dwelling and somewhat bohemian Aunt Abi.In 2015 I started a project of reading biographies and memoirs about first ladies. I have managed to read most of the biographies except a few hard to find ones. I also learned that the rule book says first ladies is not to be capitalized. This book about the first ladies covers the first ladies from Kennedy to Obama and was published in 2017. Her writing career began at the age of 15 when she wrote, directed and produced a play for a school competition, for which she was awarded third prize. Third prizes for writing became the story of her teens but that would certainly change in the future! As a girl, Kirabo's grandmother impulsively ran naked into a rain shower one day. As much older women, her grandmother and Nsuuta do it again, together.