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The Shipikisha Club
Sali est une jeune femme cultivée et indépendante. Pourtant, à vingt-huit ans, elle vit encore chez ses parents – pas par choix. Car dans son pays, la Zambie, surtout quand on est fille de pasteur, on ne vit pas sans un père ou un mari… Des années plus tard, Sali est accusée du meurtre de son époux. Au fil du procès, ce sont trois générations de femmes qui nous sont données à voir ? : Sali, donc, mais aussi sa mère et sa fille. Qu’attend-on d’elles au juste ? Pourquoi leur statut marital compte-t-il tant ? La jeune fille a-t-elle le droit de rêver à l’amour ou est-ce que, comme sa mère et sa grand-mère, elle n’aura le choix qu’entre subir en silence ou être embarquée dans un tourbillon de violence ? Il y a ici quelque chose d’une Anatomie d’une chute, le sentiment que certains événements sont inéluctables. À la fois profondément ancré dans la société zambienne et viscéralement universel, ce drame, à la fois familial et judiciaire, questionne les rapports entre hommes et femmes – notamment au sein du mariage –, en interrogeant le coût de la conformité et de la rébellion face aux contraintes culturelles. Un roman aussi subtil qu’intense. Mubanga Kalimamukwentoest une écrivaine et avocate pénaliste zambienne.
324 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 23, 2026
About the author
Mubanga Kalimamukwento
10 books57 followersMubanga is an award winning novelist and short story writer. She won the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award for her debut novel, The Mourning Bird. Mubanga also won the Kalemba Short Story Prize and was shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize. Her work has appeared in The Advocates for Human Rights Minnesota, The Dreamers Creative Writing, The Airgonaut, Overland, The Menteur and elsewhere. From Zambia, she lives in Minnesota.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 22, 2026
ça fait plaisir de lire ce genre de livre qui décale notre perspectives, nos a priori et ce que l'on croit connaitre ou non d'une société. L'autrice nous invite à un procès, celui d'une femme accusée d'avoir tuée son mari. Tout au long nous suivrons le procès, parsemé de flashback de la vie du couple. A travers cette femme nous rencontrerons aussi sa fille et sa mère, trois générations de femmes qui ont subi ou accepté le patriarcat, la religion, la tradition. Jusqu'à la dernière page du procès j'ai retenu mon souffle, durant les scènes de violences j'ai serré les dents. On ne peut pas détacher le regard de cette famille qui se déchire et de ses personnages qui ne prennent pas de bonnes ou de mauvaises décisions mais qui essaient seulement de prendre une décision.
June 14, 2026
In this complex story told from mulitple generations' point of view, we explore what it means to be a daughter, a wife and a woman in a patriarchal society that damns you if you do and crucifies you if you don't. A story that has no clear victim nor villain, we explore the ways in which mothers and daughers hurt each other unintentionally as they love their children in the ways that they can in a world that limits what they can give. If you enjoy a generational story exploring the complexities of relationships, this is a must read.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
The Shipikisha Club opens with Sali accused of killing her husband, Kasunga, instantly pulling you into the mystery of what really happened. The story moves between Sali, her daughter Ntashé, and her mother Peggy, each adding their own piece to the puzzle. Early on, we learn about Sali’s affair and the pregnancy that sets her entire life on a collision course. Kasunga’s choice to protect her reputation only complicates the tension simmering beneath the surface. The novel digs deep into love, lust, shame, and the pressure on women to maintain a “perfect” marriage. It shows how cultural and religious expectations in Zambia can trap women in cycles of silence and endurance. That’s where the idea of the “Shipikisha Club” comes in—this unspoken expectation to tolerate everything for the sake of marriage. Mubanga Kalimamukwento brings these struggles to life with sharp dialogue and vivid scenes. Each chapter starts with a Bible verse or Bemba proverb, giving every section an added punch of meaning. Even though the book deals with gender‑based violence, the characters feel like people we all know. The men aren’t one‑note villains—they’re shaped by a culture that doesn’t allow weakness. In the end, The Shipikisha Club is a bold, emotional look at the kind of marriage people pretend is fine… until it isn’t.
August 10, 2026
This story is covered in generational wounds. Wounds that are constantly picked and prodded at. Wounds festering as the gash they sit in grows under the weight of new blows.
Exploring domestic violence through matrilineal lines, this story evolves into a full circle where no detail is wasted by the author.
I’ve often heard people remark that the only DV survivor people care to listen to is a dead one. For the 20,540 Zambian women, and the many more accumulated since this novel was completed - enough is enough 💔.
Exploring domestic violence through matrilineal lines, this story evolves into a full circle where no detail is wasted by the author.
I’ve often heard people remark that the only DV survivor people care to listen to is a dead one. For the 20,540 Zambian women, and the many more accumulated since this novel was completed - enough is enough 💔.
March 10, 2026
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Dzanc Books!
The Shipikisha Club follows the trial of Sali, a woman who shot and killed her abusive husband. Because no one else was present when the murder happened, she has no witnesses to call upon to come to her defense. The story is set in Kabwe, Zambia, with rotating timelines that span from the 1980s to 2022.
Characters: While the story is told through three different narrators, it is truly Sali’s story. We learn what led up to her choice, going back through fifteen years of marriage to the moment she learns she is pregnant and the man (Doc) she had the affair with is dead. The life she thought she would have is gone, until another man, Kasunga, offers to marry her and be a father to her child. I had a hard time understanding why she has an affair with Doc and why she wants to get pregnant by him. There is an “ick” factor in their relationship (for me) given that he is The author does not portray the relationship as positive or healthy, but it was still challenging to read.
However, Sali does feel real because her imperfections are put on trial alongside her. She is selfish and proud yet also loving to her children. We see her grow increasingly desperate as the both the story and Kasunga’s abuse progresses. We don’t get to know Peggy (Sali’s mother) and Ntashe (Sali’s daughter) as well. They are given fewer chapters than Sali, and I was disappointed when we did not get more of their sides of the story.
Writing Style: Much of the novel is told through Sali’s diary entries. She is speaking to herself from the past, and I loved reading these parts of the novel. There is excellent, interesting dialogue throughout the story. The court scenes are particularly a treat to read.
Cons: The back cover implies that the book is told through rotating perspectives. However, it leans heavily on Sali’s perspective, with Ntashe’s and Peggy’s perspectives sprinkled throughout. If the back cover blurb focused on Sali’s narration and stated that the perspectives of her mother and her daughter were interspersed throughout, it would be a much more accurate preview of the story.
Spoilers ahead!
Overall, I didn’t love this book, but it was an interesting read that addressed violence against women – a very relevant topic throughout history and in the present moment.
The Shipikisha Club follows the trial of Sali, a woman who shot and killed her abusive husband. Because no one else was present when the murder happened, she has no witnesses to call upon to come to her defense. The story is set in Kabwe, Zambia, with rotating timelines that span from the 1980s to 2022.
Characters: While the story is told through three different narrators, it is truly Sali’s story. We learn what led up to her choice, going back through fifteen years of marriage to the moment she learns she is pregnant and the man (Doc) she had the affair with is dead. The life she thought she would have is gone, until another man, Kasunga, offers to marry her and be a father to her child. I had a hard time understanding why she has an affair with Doc and why she wants to get pregnant by him. There is an “ick” factor in their relationship (for me) given that he is The author does not portray the relationship as positive or healthy, but it was still challenging to read.
However, Sali does feel real because her imperfections are put on trial alongside her. She is selfish and proud yet also loving to her children. We see her grow increasingly desperate as the both the story and Kasunga’s abuse progresses. We don’t get to know Peggy (Sali’s mother) and Ntashe (Sali’s daughter) as well. They are given fewer chapters than Sali, and I was disappointed when we did not get more of their sides of the story.
Writing Style: Much of the novel is told through Sali’s diary entries. She is speaking to herself from the past, and I loved reading these parts of the novel. There is excellent, interesting dialogue throughout the story. The court scenes are particularly a treat to read.
Cons: The back cover implies that the book is told through rotating perspectives. However, it leans heavily on Sali’s perspective, with Ntashe’s and Peggy’s perspectives sprinkled throughout. If the back cover blurb focused on Sali’s narration and stated that the perspectives of her mother and her daughter were interspersed throughout, it would be a much more accurate preview of the story.
Spoilers ahead!
Overall, I didn’t love this book, but it was an interesting read that addressed violence against women – a very relevant topic throughout history and in the present moment.
October 28, 2025
Sali is a smart and ambitious woman who thought she could use marriage to a wealthy man as a means to change her life. However, her plan is thwarted after Doc, her lover dies of a heart attack and Sali has to pick up the pieces quite quickly and quietly. Due to the nature of her affair with Doc, she has a hard time grieving publicly for the man and this grief contributes to the woman she later becomes.
In a society that constantly validates women through marriage, Sali finds herself in a marital situation so different from the one she dreamed of. Kasunga is a man with his own demons, in Sali he finds the answer to a troubling predicament. But once the dust settles and life turns out to be different from what he initially thought, he changes or is it that he had been hiding who he truly was all along? This unfortunately leads to a path of mutual destruction.
It was not love that initially bound Sali to Kasunga but as she later questions herself about not leaving the marriage and as her daughter asks her the same question, you start to see how familial and societal patterns shape us. One can see that it is not just love that makes a marriage. Love, one would argue, might not even be part of what makes a marriage. The same question that Ntashé asks her mother is the same question that Sali probably wanted to ask her mother in her younger years.
After Sali becomes a mother herself, her priorities change, it is no longer about a life of comfort but a life of survival and dealing with the cards life dealt to her. Motherhood is not what she thought it would be but as someone who prides herself on being a woman who always makes it work, she is determined to make the best of her circumstances. In the end, she finds herself in a predicament that she cannot get out of, and she lets it all unravel, after all what else does she have to lose? She has been losing parts of herself since Doc died.
Through three generations, we see women learn to navigate a society that was not built to hold space for them. They are expected to bend themselves to the will of society, but society is not expected to bend its will to them. In their own ways, Peggy, Sali and Ntashé try to make life work for them. By being a good wife, a good mother and a good daughter, but it is still not enough. They are not spared of the violence and abuse that affects women in various societies across the world. And as we learn, their silence does not protect them either. Peggy thought that giving her husband the one thing that would validate his manhood would secure her marriage but sadly it does not. Sali, in her own way, tries to do this and it backfires badly.
For Ntashé, being a good daughter and the family peacekeeper was supposed to guarantee understanding and acceptance, but the price is much higher than that. After tragedy strikes, she realises the futility of it all. She is left with more questions than answers and in a society that demands silence and obedience, she has to learn to pick up the pieces at a much younger age. To shipikisha is to learn to live with the indignity that your husband bestows upon you, it is to learn to look the other way, to endure and carry on like you are not dying inside. Peggy taught Sali and Sali was teaching Ntashé.
Sali has a college degree, and it is not enough to protect her from the indignity that society bestows upon unwed mothers. She already has a complicated relationship with her father and knows that a pregnancy without a husband would completely destroy their relationship. This need for male approval and acceptance is something entrenched in women from a young age and with fathers being the first male figure in women’s lives, any gaps in this relationship are likely to reveal themselves in any relationship that happens with a man later in life.
Sali watches her daughter have a positive relationship with her father and this highly likely contributes to her decision to stay in an abusive marriage. She watched her mother endure and she is willing to do the same. As Sali learns from her own marriage and her married friends, society is more accepting of men’s wrongs than women’s wrongs. She was supposed to endure and take everything Kasunga threw her way, she was not supposed to end up in a court of law at the mercy of a judge. To shipikisha is to endure, but at what cost?
In The Shipikisha Club, Mubanga paints a picture of a Zambia that feels reflective of the collective African experience but also gives us a perspective that society is not always willing to embrace. She makes a case for a version of womanhood that shows the intricacies and complexities that come with wanting a good life. Womanhood is both an individual and a collective experience and in Salifyanji we get to appreciate what one path of it looks like. Intimate partner violence is a very sensitive topic that can be difficult to deal with and Mubanga helps us to understand one of the many forms that it can take. Justice for victims of intimate partner violence can feel like injustice to other affected parties and it is important that as a society we keep talking about it.
The Shipikisha Club is an informative and thought provoking read.
In a society that constantly validates women through marriage, Sali finds herself in a marital situation so different from the one she dreamed of. Kasunga is a man with his own demons, in Sali he finds the answer to a troubling predicament. But once the dust settles and life turns out to be different from what he initially thought, he changes or is it that he had been hiding who he truly was all along? This unfortunately leads to a path of mutual destruction.
It was not love that initially bound Sali to Kasunga but as she later questions herself about not leaving the marriage and as her daughter asks her the same question, you start to see how familial and societal patterns shape us. One can see that it is not just love that makes a marriage. Love, one would argue, might not even be part of what makes a marriage. The same question that Ntashé asks her mother is the same question that Sali probably wanted to ask her mother in her younger years.
After Sali becomes a mother herself, her priorities change, it is no longer about a life of comfort but a life of survival and dealing with the cards life dealt to her. Motherhood is not what she thought it would be but as someone who prides herself on being a woman who always makes it work, she is determined to make the best of her circumstances. In the end, she finds herself in a predicament that she cannot get out of, and she lets it all unravel, after all what else does she have to lose? She has been losing parts of herself since Doc died.
Through three generations, we see women learn to navigate a society that was not built to hold space for them. They are expected to bend themselves to the will of society, but society is not expected to bend its will to them. In their own ways, Peggy, Sali and Ntashé try to make life work for them. By being a good wife, a good mother and a good daughter, but it is still not enough. They are not spared of the violence and abuse that affects women in various societies across the world. And as we learn, their silence does not protect them either. Peggy thought that giving her husband the one thing that would validate his manhood would secure her marriage but sadly it does not. Sali, in her own way, tries to do this and it backfires badly.
For Ntashé, being a good daughter and the family peacekeeper was supposed to guarantee understanding and acceptance, but the price is much higher than that. After tragedy strikes, she realises the futility of it all. She is left with more questions than answers and in a society that demands silence and obedience, she has to learn to pick up the pieces at a much younger age. To shipikisha is to learn to live with the indignity that your husband bestows upon you, it is to learn to look the other way, to endure and carry on like you are not dying inside. Peggy taught Sali and Sali was teaching Ntashé.
Sali has a college degree, and it is not enough to protect her from the indignity that society bestows upon unwed mothers. She already has a complicated relationship with her father and knows that a pregnancy without a husband would completely destroy their relationship. This need for male approval and acceptance is something entrenched in women from a young age and with fathers being the first male figure in women’s lives, any gaps in this relationship are likely to reveal themselves in any relationship that happens with a man later in life.
Sali watches her daughter have a positive relationship with her father and this highly likely contributes to her decision to stay in an abusive marriage. She watched her mother endure and she is willing to do the same. As Sali learns from her own marriage and her married friends, society is more accepting of men’s wrongs than women’s wrongs. She was supposed to endure and take everything Kasunga threw her way, she was not supposed to end up in a court of law at the mercy of a judge. To shipikisha is to endure, but at what cost?
In The Shipikisha Club, Mubanga paints a picture of a Zambia that feels reflective of the collective African experience but also gives us a perspective that society is not always willing to embrace. She makes a case for a version of womanhood that shows the intricacies and complexities that come with wanting a good life. Womanhood is both an individual and a collective experience and in Salifyanji we get to appreciate what one path of it looks like. Intimate partner violence is a very sensitive topic that can be difficult to deal with and Mubanga helps us to understand one of the many forms that it can take. Justice for victims of intimate partner violence can feel like injustice to other affected parties and it is important that as a society we keep talking about it.
The Shipikisha Club is an informative and thought provoking read.
August 10, 2026
Mother of three, Sali is on trial for the murder of her abusive husband, Kasunga. She pleads not guilty to shooting him dead one night after his drunkenness turned into violence, but his family are determined she will pay for what she has done.
The story unfurls through the narratives of three generations of women from Sali's family (following a short prologue from Kasunga's mother, Mayo) - Sali herself, Sali's teenage daughter Ntashé, and Sali's mother Peggy - switching between Ntashé and Peggy's voices in the present, and a timeline that follows Sali's experiences from the day that changed the future she saw for herself.
The story comes together in a spectacular combination of tense court-room drama, coming of age heart-breaker, painful retrospective, and cultural analysis that explores a myriad facets around the expectations women face on entering the Shipikisha Club - a Zambian idiom that likens marriage to a test of endurance, and the requirement for female silence that comes with its many trials.
At the beginning of the story, Ntashé is on her way to the courtroom for the commencement of Sali's scadalous trial. She is negotiating a mass of contradictory feelings about the night that led to the break-up of her family, grief at the loss of a father she idolised, and confusion around the idea her mother may actually be guilty. Over the course of the trial she learns many things about her mother, her parent's relationship, and herself that shape her ideas about marriage, motherhood, and being a woman in Zambian society. Ntashé steals your heart as a girl lost in the consequences of events she does not understand.
The central core of the story is about Sali herself, examining the things the trial reveals, the ordeal she faces after her arrest, and what you learn about the experiences that led her to the pivotal moment when she was facing down a gun in Kasunga's hand. Kalimamukwento does an incredible job delving into the cultural and emotional threads that weave together around Sali, making a rich tapestry of the circumstances that precipitated a reluctant marriage to a man she did not love, and how his role as 'saviour' became a burden that eventually broke her. Sali is a difficult character to come to terms with at times, as she is written in well-judged shades of grey, but I liked how this makes her spring from the page as such an authentic character.
To complete the circle, the latter part of the novel introduces Peggy's reflections on her own marriage, her daughter, and her despair at how events have turned out. For me, Peggy is the hardest to like, as there is a bitter taste of complicity in what she shares about herself and her relationship with Sali, that I found very hard to accept as a mother myself.
The three women are an integral part of each other's stories, making a whole that incorporates a seriously impressive number of themes. Kalimamukwento touches on so much on around cultural traditions, family, fertility, religion, marriage, motherhood, violence against women, gender roles, expectation, guilt, shame, prejudice, and, of course, the endless cycle of dysfunction that patriarchal authority breeds.
Raw and powerful, this is a book that is going to stay with me for a long time.
The story unfurls through the narratives of three generations of women from Sali's family (following a short prologue from Kasunga's mother, Mayo) - Sali herself, Sali's teenage daughter Ntashé, and Sali's mother Peggy - switching between Ntashé and Peggy's voices in the present, and a timeline that follows Sali's experiences from the day that changed the future she saw for herself.
The story comes together in a spectacular combination of tense court-room drama, coming of age heart-breaker, painful retrospective, and cultural analysis that explores a myriad facets around the expectations women face on entering the Shipikisha Club - a Zambian idiom that likens marriage to a test of endurance, and the requirement for female silence that comes with its many trials.
At the beginning of the story, Ntashé is on her way to the courtroom for the commencement of Sali's scadalous trial. She is negotiating a mass of contradictory feelings about the night that led to the break-up of her family, grief at the loss of a father she idolised, and confusion around the idea her mother may actually be guilty. Over the course of the trial she learns many things about her mother, her parent's relationship, and herself that shape her ideas about marriage, motherhood, and being a woman in Zambian society. Ntashé steals your heart as a girl lost in the consequences of events she does not understand.
The central core of the story is about Sali herself, examining the things the trial reveals, the ordeal she faces after her arrest, and what you learn about the experiences that led her to the pivotal moment when she was facing down a gun in Kasunga's hand. Kalimamukwento does an incredible job delving into the cultural and emotional threads that weave together around Sali, making a rich tapestry of the circumstances that precipitated a reluctant marriage to a man she did not love, and how his role as 'saviour' became a burden that eventually broke her. Sali is a difficult character to come to terms with at times, as she is written in well-judged shades of grey, but I liked how this makes her spring from the page as such an authentic character.
To complete the circle, the latter part of the novel introduces Peggy's reflections on her own marriage, her daughter, and her despair at how events have turned out. For me, Peggy is the hardest to like, as there is a bitter taste of complicity in what she shares about herself and her relationship with Sali, that I found very hard to accept as a mother myself.
The three women are an integral part of each other's stories, making a whole that incorporates a seriously impressive number of themes. Kalimamukwento touches on so much on around cultural traditions, family, fertility, religion, marriage, motherhood, violence against women, gender roles, expectation, guilt, shame, prejudice, and, of course, the endless cycle of dysfunction that patriarchal authority breeds.
Raw and powerful, this is a book that is going to stay with me for a long time.
June 2, 2026
i really enjoy Mubanga’s writing style. there’s something about the tone of her work that i enjoy.
now, about this book. if you enjoyed why women kill, i think you’ll enjoy this one.
this was my most anticipated book this year. i wanted to read it because of the title. i grew up hearing about the shipikisha club before i even knew the depths of what it meant.
i couldn’t put this book down. and every time i did, i felt like i had to come back and see what happens. i did a looooot of shouting as i was reading.
in summary: Sali is on trial for the murder of her husband, Kasunga.
fact: Kasunga is dead.
fact: Sali did it.
so what are we doing here? we’re finding out why.
like a cautionary tale, almost, it’s a critique on society. Mubanga is saying: this is a Zambia that exists. one where women’s lives are in danger at the hands of their partners. one where women are supposed to “hold water behind their teeth”. and this is something that happens.
the characters are chauvinistic whether they realize it or not. including Sali. and it’s multigenerational.
you see it in the mother (amai busa), in Sali, and even in Ntashé. slightly less with each iteration, but still there. so while i was rooting for Sali, and empathized, i was also really mad at her at certain moments.
(Zambia doesn’t use a jury system but) as i read, i asked myself: if i was a juror on this case, what would be my verdict? that why i was reading this at 2am sometimes.
and another thing! why is infidelity so normalized and, actually, ingrained? i absolutely think people talk about this a lot, but i wanna know too.
“ubu chende bwa mwaume tabutoba in’ganda.” (A man’s infidelity can’t break a home.) a Bemba proverb. i shudder.
anyway, the judge found her—
now, about this book. if you enjoyed why women kill, i think you’ll enjoy this one.
this was my most anticipated book this year. i wanted to read it because of the title. i grew up hearing about the shipikisha club before i even knew the depths of what it meant.
i couldn’t put this book down. and every time i did, i felt like i had to come back and see what happens. i did a looooot of shouting as i was reading.
in summary: Sali is on trial for the murder of her husband, Kasunga.
fact: Kasunga is dead.
fact: Sali did it.
so what are we doing here? we’re finding out why.
like a cautionary tale, almost, it’s a critique on society. Mubanga is saying: this is a Zambia that exists. one where women’s lives are in danger at the hands of their partners. one where women are supposed to “hold water behind their teeth”. and this is something that happens.
the characters are chauvinistic whether they realize it or not. including Sali. and it’s multigenerational.
you see it in the mother (amai busa), in Sali, and even in Ntashé. slightly less with each iteration, but still there. so while i was rooting for Sali, and empathized, i was also really mad at her at certain moments.
(Zambia doesn’t use a jury system but) as i read, i asked myself: if i was a juror on this case, what would be my verdict? that why i was reading this at 2am sometimes.
and another thing! why is infidelity so normalized and, actually, ingrained? i absolutely think people talk about this a lot, but i wanna know too.
“ubu chende bwa mwaume tabutoba in’ganda.” (A man’s infidelity can’t break a home.) a Bemba proverb. i shudder.
anyway, the judge found her—
April 17, 2026
This novel is a gripping and unflinching exploration of Zambia’s culture of silence. A domestic thriller that doubles as sharp social commentary on patriarchy, generational trauma, and survival.
Set against a murder trial in Kabwe, it follows Sali, accused of killing her husband Kasunga, and spirals through the years that trained her into that moment. The narrative rotates between Sali, her teenage daughter Ntashé, and her mother Peggy; it’s a brutal, brilliant structure because you don’t just ask what happened. You see how it became possible.
Kalimamukwento dismantles shipikisha (to endure) with precision. The club isn’t a place, it’s a doctrine: women swallowing betrayal and violence so respectability can stay spotless. Staying because “what will people say” is treated like a god, and everyone is expected to worship. Peggy is its key worshipper.
The writing is exquisite, showcasing Kalimamukwento’a literary prowess; the prose dances smoothly across each page, making the book unputdownable.
By the end, the book leaves a haunting question: if the Shipikisha Club is the cost of being a respectable woman, is violence or death the only exit?
Painful. Necessary. Unforgettable.
Set against a murder trial in Kabwe, it follows Sali, accused of killing her husband Kasunga, and spirals through the years that trained her into that moment. The narrative rotates between Sali, her teenage daughter Ntashé, and her mother Peggy; it’s a brutal, brilliant structure because you don’t just ask what happened. You see how it became possible.
Kalimamukwento dismantles shipikisha (to endure) with precision. The club isn’t a place, it’s a doctrine: women swallowing betrayal and violence so respectability can stay spotless. Staying because “what will people say” is treated like a god, and everyone is expected to worship. Peggy is its key worshipper.
The writing is exquisite, showcasing Kalimamukwento’a literary prowess; the prose dances smoothly across each page, making the book unputdownable.
By the end, the book leaves a haunting question: if the Shipikisha Club is the cost of being a respectable woman, is violence or death the only exit?
Painful. Necessary. Unforgettable.
September 1, 2026
The Shipikisha Club follows Sali, a mother of three, whose life takes a dramatic turn when she stands trial at the Kabwe High Court in central Zambia for the murder of her husband. From there, the story traces the culture, relationships and choices that shaped her journey, offering a layered exploration of marriage, motherhood, and the pressures placed on women in Zambia.
What resonated most with me were the female relationships at the heart of the book. The interactions between Sali and her daughter Ntashé was especially powerful, so vividly written that I felt their emotions, and cried alongside them. I even appreciated the snippets of conversation between Sali and her mother‑in‑law, awkward as their interactions were. The connections and inherited pain of shipikisha with her mother Peggy and her childhood friend Faye added further authenticity.
I did wish some characters had been explored more completely, particularly Ntashé at certain points in time, maybe one day, but overall the novel succeeds in portraying the complexities of women’s lives. At its core, it asks a haunting question: what happens to women who refuse to obey?
What resonated most with me were the female relationships at the heart of the book. The interactions between Sali and her daughter Ntashé was especially powerful, so vividly written that I felt their emotions, and cried alongside them. I even appreciated the snippets of conversation between Sali and her mother‑in‑law, awkward as their interactions were. The connections and inherited pain of shipikisha with her mother Peggy and her childhood friend Faye added further authenticity.
I did wish some characters had been explored more completely, particularly Ntashé at certain points in time, maybe one day, but overall the novel succeeds in portraying the complexities of women’s lives. At its core, it asks a haunting question: what happens to women who refuse to obey?
Review of advance copy received from Author
I was given an ARC for an honest review for Creative Writing News.
This book centres on the life of Sali and the court trial for the murder of her husband. There are so many things that drives the end result of the book but the one that stands out is how women are treated in Zambia and how they are expected to swallow every atrocity committed by a man in the name of marriage.
What I like is how it is told from the perspective of three generations. We can make our assumption of how rooted traditions are in promoting gender based violence and if you can dare to break out of it.
This is an important story and Mubanga Kalimamukwento has done a fantastic job in painting the experiences of Sali in bold colours for us to take a grasp at the reality of many Zambian women.
Read the full review here
https://www.creativewritingnews.com/r...
This book centres on the life of Sali and the court trial for the murder of her husband. There are so many things that drives the end result of the book but the one that stands out is how women are treated in Zambia and how they are expected to swallow every atrocity committed by a man in the name of marriage.
What I like is how it is told from the perspective of three generations. We can make our assumption of how rooted traditions are in promoting gender based violence and if you can dare to break out of it.
This is an important story and Mubanga Kalimamukwento has done a fantastic job in painting the experiences of Sali in bold colours for us to take a grasp at the reality of many Zambian women.
Read the full review here
https://www.creativewritingnews.com/r...
April 16, 2026
The best thing about The Shipikisha Club is Kalimamukwento's ability to channel and render the protagonist's voice with piercing candour. The diary entries I found very beautifully written. I appreciated the portrayal of men in the novel: very often feminist novels tend to present the men as caricatures of evil. The men of The Shipikisha Club may be unkind and villains at certain points, but they are certainly full people.
Read my full review of the novel on Afrocritik: https://afrocritik.com/mubanga-kalima...
Read my full review of the novel on Afrocritik: https://afrocritik.com/mubanga-kalima...
April 15, 2026
I am bowled over by the author's compelling use of language and the narrative control. In this polyvocal novel, all key characters bring their stories to the page and ask the reader to be the judge. The courtroom scenes thread the story and the arcs do not fray at all, but instead glues the reader's attention across different timelines and lived lives until the final page. Mubanga is both a reader's and a writer's writer. I will read anything she writes.
August 25, 2026
“I rolled my eyes but gave her a slight chuckle. I’d heard this threat before—that to be married was to become tethered to an unspoken misery” The Shipikisha Club is one of my favorite reads this year. I enjoyed reading the book for many reasons. The infusion of Bemba and English in the dialogue. The way the author perfectly shifts narratives between characters in the book. The progression of the story. The imperfect characters. Also it was such a simple read. Would highly recommend
August 28, 2026
The Shipikisha Club is beautifully written and fully realized. Sali is a brilliant character, at turns exciting and frustrating. The book transported me to Zambia with complete sensory immersion in Kabwe and Lusaka. I love all the details and layers of the novel and look forward to re-reading it.
You can read my full review of the novel here: https://jaylit.com/difficult-women-an...
You can read my full review of the novel here: https://jaylit.com/difficult-women-an...
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August 31, 2026Good book, gross book. I really liked the structure. Patriarchy is bad.
April 26, 2026
Parts were interesting, mainly Ntashé’s POV and the early parts of the trial, but the rest was a bit of a drag for me. None of the characters were particularly likable either.
Plus, reading about the way women are treated in Zambia left me sad and angry.
Plus, reading about the way women are treated in Zambia left me sad and angry.
May 13, 2026
This book navigates the complexities of mother-daughter relationships. The prose is delightful even while navigating difficult conversations. Kalimamukwento does a great job with her world building and the end had me crying on a random Tuesday.
August 20, 2026
Beautiful but heartbreaking. I could not put it down!
September 4, 2026
3.75 stars
April 3, 2026
A hard-charging exploration of mothers and daughters making the best choices they can in contemporary Nigeria. A touch of the courtroom drama and murder, though its much more than that.
March 10, 2026
A book that tells a story of marriage through the lens of Zambian tradition, and the weight of endurance women have to bear in order for a family to remain intact.
Sali, the main character, is neither likeable nor reliable & that is what makes her and the other female narrators feel real. If she wasn't so terrified of bringing shame to her parents, perhaps Sali would have made different choices; not married Kasunga, not ended up on trial for murder. But life is not that simple, on & off the page.
I hope many Zambians read this novel without bias & have honest conversations about ukushipikisha & who it truly benefits in the long run.
Sali, the main character, is neither likeable nor reliable & that is what makes her and the other female narrators feel real. If she wasn't so terrified of bringing shame to her parents, perhaps Sali would have made different choices; not married Kasunga, not ended up on trial for murder. But life is not that simple, on & off the page.
I hope many Zambians read this novel without bias & have honest conversations about ukushipikisha & who it truly benefits in the long run.
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