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Coming to Birth
In this quietly powerful and eminently readable novel, winner of the prestigious Sinclair Prize, Kenyan writer Marjorie Macgoye deftly interweaves the story of one young woman’s tumultuous coming of age with the history of a nation emerging from colonialism.
At the age of sixteen, Paulina leaves her small village in western Kenya to join her new husband, Martin, in the bustling city of Nairobi. It is 1956, and Kenya is in the final days of the "Emergency," as the British seek to suppress violent anti-colonial revolts.
But Paulina knows little about, about city life, or about marriage, and Martin’s clumsy attempts to control her soon lead to a relationship filled with silences, misunderstandings, and unfulfilled expectations. Soon Paulina’s inability to bear a child effectively banishes her from the confines of traditional women’s roles. As her country at last moves toward independence, Paulina manages to achieve a kind of independence as She accepts a job that will require her to live separately from her husband, and she has an affair that leads to the birth of her first child. But Paulina’s hard-won contentment will be shattered when Kenya’s turbulent history intrudes into her private life, bringing with it tragedy—and a new test of her quiet courage and determination.
Paulina’s patient struggles for survival and identity are revealed through Marjorie Macgoye’s keen and sensitive vision—a vision which extends to embrace the whole of a nation and a people likewise struggling to find their way. As the Weekly Standard of Kenya notes, " Coming to Birth is a radical novel in firmly asserting our common humanity."
At the age of sixteen, Paulina leaves her small village in western Kenya to join her new husband, Martin, in the bustling city of Nairobi. It is 1956, and Kenya is in the final days of the "Emergency," as the British seek to suppress violent anti-colonial revolts.
But Paulina knows little about, about city life, or about marriage, and Martin’s clumsy attempts to control her soon lead to a relationship filled with silences, misunderstandings, and unfulfilled expectations. Soon Paulina’s inability to bear a child effectively banishes her from the confines of traditional women’s roles. As her country at last moves toward independence, Paulina manages to achieve a kind of independence as She accepts a job that will require her to live separately from her husband, and she has an affair that leads to the birth of her first child. But Paulina’s hard-won contentment will be shattered when Kenya’s turbulent history intrudes into her private life, bringing with it tragedy—and a new test of her quiet courage and determination.
Paulina’s patient struggles for survival and identity are revealed through Marjorie Macgoye’s keen and sensitive vision—a vision which extends to embrace the whole of a nation and a people likewise struggling to find their way. As the Weekly Standard of Kenya notes, " Coming to Birth is a radical novel in firmly asserting our common humanity."
192 pages, Paperback
First published July 6, 1987
39 people are currently reading
839 people want to read
About the author
Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
17 books19 followersMarjorie Oludhe Macgoye (1928 – 30 November 2015) was an English/Kenyan novelist, essayist and poet.
Born Marjorie King in 1928 in Southampton, England, and died on 1st December 2015 in Kenya[.] Marjorie travelled to Kenya to work as a missionary in 1954. She worked at the S.J. Moore Bookshop on Government Road, now Moi Avenue in Nairobi, for some years. There she organised readings which were attended by, among others, Okot P'Bitek, the author of Song of Lawino, and Jonathan Kariara, a Kenyan poet. She met Macgoye, a medical doctor, and the two were married in 1960. In 1971, an anthology entitled Poems from East Africa included the acclaimed poem "A Freedom Song". Her 1986 novel Coming to Birth won the Sinclair Prize and has been used as a set book in Kenyan high schools. She has been called the "mother of Kenyan literature". Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye died on December 1, 2015, at her home in Nairobi.
(from Wikipedia)
Born Marjorie King in 1928 in Southampton, England, and died on 1st December 2015 in Kenya[.] Marjorie travelled to Kenya to work as a missionary in 1954. She worked at the S.J. Moore Bookshop on Government Road, now Moi Avenue in Nairobi, for some years. There she organised readings which were attended by, among others, Okot P'Bitek, the author of Song of Lawino, and Jonathan Kariara, a Kenyan poet. She met Macgoye, a medical doctor, and the two were married in 1960. In 1971, an anthology entitled Poems from East Africa included the acclaimed poem "A Freedom Song". Her 1986 novel Coming to Birth won the Sinclair Prize and has been used as a set book in Kenyan high schools. She has been called the "mother of Kenyan literature". Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye died on December 1, 2015, at her home in Nairobi.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
November 6, 2008
I read this book in one of my African Lit classes during my undergrad years, and I've never forgotten it. It is the sad & beautiful story of Paulina, whose volatile marriage and family life mirrors the political landscape of Kenya.
This is one of the few truly perfect books I've ever read.
This is one of the few truly perfect books I've ever read.
August 7, 2009
Most people in my year hated this book and the fact that they had to read it....but they had to....and I loved it! I love the faction(fact + fiction) of it. I love the story of the woman moving to a town, she only knows Luo but she's determined to make a way: she learns Kiswahili, the national language, bit by bit; she learns how to spend money wisely; she learns how to survive in Nairobi in the middle of the emergency- but that's just at the start. Her story is interwoven wihthe story of another birth- and a hard one as well- the birth of a new nation- Kenya.
So I loved the book all through the looking up years at the beginning, the darker years in the middle and the once-more-looking up years at the end. Hopefully both her child and the child Kenya are carried to term is what you think at the end...
I loved it.
So I loved the book all through the looking up years at the beginning, the darker years in the middle and the once-more-looking up years at the end. Hopefully both her child and the child Kenya are carried to term is what you think at the end...
I loved it.
September 23, 2021
This was way more interesting than I was expecting considering I rarely read slice-of-life novels that just follow the life/lives of people.
It juxtaposes the independence of Kenya with the independence of Paulina, a Luo girl who is married young (she was just 16! But that was even more common back then) and struggles to get a child. She comes to Nairobi to be with her new husband and the daily life of the city carries her along its tide. The story spans about 20 years (1956-1978); just before Kenya gained independence to the immediate aftermath of the fight for freedom.
The thing that always strikes me about Nairobi in its earlier days is how the adjectives used to describe it have not changed at all. Bustling, polluted, melting pot of cultures, full of opportunities. The vibe of the city was fixed long ago. Be it Macgoye' 1950s Nairobi or Meja Mwangi's 1980s Nairobi or Wanjiru Koinange late 2000s Nairobi.
I understand why this was a Kenyan literature set book in high schools at some point. It really hits on key themes that most Kenyans can relate with and touches on several weighty historical events. Tribalism. The coming of independence. Early marriage. Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Tom Mboya. And on and on. It was a fast read. Paulina is a very calm but enjoyable narrator.
It juxtaposes the independence of Kenya with the independence of Paulina, a Luo girl who is married young (she was just 16! But that was even more common back then) and struggles to get a child. She comes to Nairobi to be with her new husband and the daily life of the city carries her along its tide. The story spans about 20 years (1956-1978); just before Kenya gained independence to the immediate aftermath of the fight for freedom.
The thing that always strikes me about Nairobi in its earlier days is how the adjectives used to describe it have not changed at all. Bustling, polluted, melting pot of cultures, full of opportunities. The vibe of the city was fixed long ago. Be it Macgoye' 1950s Nairobi or Meja Mwangi's 1980s Nairobi or Wanjiru Koinange late 2000s Nairobi.
I understand why this was a Kenyan literature set book in high schools at some point. It really hits on key themes that most Kenyans can relate with and touches on several weighty historical events. Tribalism. The coming of independence. Early marriage. Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Tom Mboya. And on and on. It was a fast read. Paulina is a very calm but enjoyable narrator.
August 3, 2013
Story of a Kenyan woman's transformation from dependence to independence that coincides with her country's move to independence. Her single independence is lauded until the end when it indicates she is not totally complete until she has a child. It ends with her pregnancy. A seeming contradiction. Why is she not complete as an independent woman in her own right?
December 15, 2020
One of those high school setbooks that, for some reason, I didn't read. With her poetic, flowery prose, Marjorie offers a refreshing perspective of what living in Nairobi immediately before and after Kenya's independence. She does this through stories of Paulina, the protagonist, Martin, rural folk and urban women (mostly), and a member of parliament.
If you are wondering what it felt like, smelt like, or tasted like to live in Nairobi at this historical period, and especially through the eyes of an ordinary Kenyan, then this is the book to read.
If you are wondering what it felt like, smelt like, or tasted like to live in Nairobi at this historical period, and especially through the eyes of an ordinary Kenyan, then this is the book to read.
Want to read
December 13, 2012A inspiring and interesting book.It still remains in my memories,since I read it in my High School.I like the author's mode of presentation and they styles employed which are quite appealing to the reader.The flow of ideas is also logical and quite systematic.I salute her for good work.
Read
September 21, 2011interesting
May 28, 2023
In my quest to understand the reviews craze I had heard about Coming to Birth by Marjorie Oludhe MacGoye, I decided to read it. For a long time, I did not want to bring myself to even think about getting a copy because I believed it was an educational (high school) study text at some point, and so what would an ancestor like me who studied the father of African literature, Chinua Achebe, have to do with it.
At first, I loved it, the story of the sixteen-year-old Paulina who leaves her small village in Nyanza, Kenya, to join her new husband, Martin, in the bustling city of Nairobi. It is 1956, and Kenya is in the final days of the "Emergency", as the British seek to suppress violent anti-colonial revolts. I connected with the character, and I wanted to travel the journey and sometimes got mad at Martin for beating her, only to jerk up realising it is in the mid-20th century when wife-beating was a sign of love.
But Paulina knows little about, city life, or about marriage, and Martin’s clumsy attempts to control her soon lead to a relationship filled with silences, misunderstandings, and unfulfilled expectations. Soon Paulina’s inability to bear a child effectively banishes her from the confines of traditional women’s roles. As Kenya at last moves toward independence, Paulina manages to achieve a kind of independence (misguided by today's standards). She starts an affair with Simon in Kisumu and gets employed. She gets a child with Simon, whom she chases once she knows she is expecting, only for the child to be killed by a police bullet.
In the (writer's) confusion that ensues, we are made to believe that Paulina’s hard-won contentment will be shattered when Kenya’s turbulent history intrudes into her private life, bringing with it a tragedy—and a new test of her quiet courage and determination. There is nothing natural about this. What I saw is a (non-)Kenyan (a British-born transplant in Kenya) writer desperately trying to force it, to merge Kenya's (political) history with a story that would have been great. It is my feeling that the writer succumbed to the pressure to write a political book to fit in a writing environment that wouldn't have accepted her frail attempt at romance writing. I must agree the writer made an attempt at connecting with Kenya, showing that she understood, but it was just that: An attempt, as it is with any other white person who wants to paint a picture of being more African than white.
So, this book was a DNF, at 49.489762152% into it. I couldn't continue feeding the drivel that was neither here nor there.
At first, I loved it, the story of the sixteen-year-old Paulina who leaves her small village in Nyanza, Kenya, to join her new husband, Martin, in the bustling city of Nairobi. It is 1956, and Kenya is in the final days of the "Emergency", as the British seek to suppress violent anti-colonial revolts. I connected with the character, and I wanted to travel the journey and sometimes got mad at Martin for beating her, only to jerk up realising it is in the mid-20th century when wife-beating was a sign of love.
But Paulina knows little about, city life, or about marriage, and Martin’s clumsy attempts to control her soon lead to a relationship filled with silences, misunderstandings, and unfulfilled expectations. Soon Paulina’s inability to bear a child effectively banishes her from the confines of traditional women’s roles. As Kenya at last moves toward independence, Paulina manages to achieve a kind of independence (misguided by today's standards). She starts an affair with Simon in Kisumu and gets employed. She gets a child with Simon, whom she chases once she knows she is expecting, only for the child to be killed by a police bullet.
In the (writer's) confusion that ensues, we are made to believe that Paulina’s hard-won contentment will be shattered when Kenya’s turbulent history intrudes into her private life, bringing with it a tragedy—and a new test of her quiet courage and determination. There is nothing natural about this. What I saw is a (non-)Kenyan (a British-born transplant in Kenya) writer desperately trying to force it, to merge Kenya's (political) history with a story that would have been great. It is my feeling that the writer succumbed to the pressure to write a political book to fit in a writing environment that wouldn't have accepted her frail attempt at romance writing. I must agree the writer made an attempt at connecting with Kenya, showing that she understood, but it was just that: An attempt, as it is with any other white person who wants to paint a picture of being more African than white.
So, this book was a DNF, at 49.489762152% into it. I couldn't continue feeding the drivel that was neither here nor there.
June 21, 2020
Another wonderful jaunt into my early teen years. I remember, months after reading her book, being so wonderfully enthralled when I learned that Macgoye was a white British woman who'd married a Luo man - it didn't seem so at all from the book; I'd always thought she was straight up Luo. She'd so wonderfully inhabited what I could recognize as a common Luo experience during the 60s and 70s - even 80s (from talking with my grandparents' and my dad's older siblings, who'd themselves made the migration from rural Luo Nyanza to Nairobi, and who'd lived through the repression of the the Kenyatta 60s and 70s and the Moi 80s and 90s (one of my paternal relatives, Wasonga Sijeyo, the Member of Parliament for Nakuru Town and later for Gem constituency, remains to this day the most detained Kenya - he was in detention for nine consecutive years - and my family still speaks about this). Macgoye so brilliantly captured the heavy political moments of the 60s; the repression of Luos in the country after Kenyatta and Jaramogi had a falling out in 1966; the rampant killings of Luos in Kisumu after Kenyatta's botched 1966 visit to open the new "Russia" hospital - funded by the Soviet Union at the instigation of Jaramogi; the assassination of Tom Mboya, easily the most charismatic and brilliant Kenyan political leader of his generation (believed by many to have been orchestrated by the older Kenyatta) etc.
It's always struck me that during this period in Kenyan history, most of the political novels were by Luos -just like most of the political novels after 1967 in Nigeria were by Igbos. Whereas writers like Ngugu wa Thiong'o, Micere Mugo etc. became more explicitly political when the Kalenjin Moi came to power, during the years of Kikuyu dominance under Kenyatta, it was mostly Luos, because they were the repressed ones, who were the radicals, and who saw political writing as a form of resistance. Other Kenyan literature during this period, (like Ngugi's earlier works - Weep not Child, The River Between etc.), while extremely rich, dealt more with questions left over from colonialism, or with much grander, not immediately political, questions of human flourishing.
It's always struck me that during this period in Kenyan history, most of the political novels were by Luos -just like most of the political novels after 1967 in Nigeria were by Igbos. Whereas writers like Ngugu wa Thiong'o, Micere Mugo etc. became more explicitly political when the Kalenjin Moi came to power, during the years of Kikuyu dominance under Kenyatta, it was mostly Luos, because they were the repressed ones, who were the radicals, and who saw political writing as a form of resistance. Other Kenyan literature during this period, (like Ngugi's earlier works - Weep not Child, The River Between etc.), while extremely rich, dealt more with questions left over from colonialism, or with much grander, not immediately political, questions of human flourishing.
October 24, 2025
Read this a long time ago when I was much younger and didn't understand the ways of the world.
This book meant so much to me rereading it now. I'm so proud of Paulina and her journey.
Unfortunately, if Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye had continued with this story, Paulina's coming baby would have been a miscarriage or killed at some point as the country's politics and leaders didn't improve much after 1978.
This book meant so much to me rereading it now. I'm so proud of Paulina and her journey.
Unfortunately, if Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye had continued with this story, Paulina's coming baby would have been a miscarriage or killed at some point as the country's politics and leaders didn't improve much after 1978.
August 22, 2020
And another thing Paulina, you have dressed to kill. I read this book in high-school. It was very interesting. Despite being a British author married to a Kenyan Luo man, Marjorie managed to present it as if she was a Kenyan native.
October 31, 2021
"Nothing special. But a very great hope." (p. 150)
This little novel is as full of heart and humanity as is possible. It is especially helpful to come to grips with the place of child-bearing in East African societies.
This little novel is as full of heart and humanity as is possible. It is especially helpful to come to grips with the place of child-bearing in East African societies.
November 17, 2018
My High school was never a lie.
August 23, 2020
A good African novel. Great piece of literature.
May 16, 2021
How do i read this book
September 29, 2021
A love story that began pre-independence but dims as freedom sets in. Interest in politics by one partner fails to balance the equation. Balancing is important for a young love.
September 20, 2024
Easy to read and great characters. I learned a lot reading it while on holiday in Kenya. It was and still is a hard situation for women in rural areas
November 23, 2024
Paulina's story depicts how the political air finds a way to sneak into the lungs of the ordinary citizen. Amazing read.
May 12, 2018
A young woman comes of age during late colonial and early independence Kenya. The novel reads on several levels but isespecially interesting from a political historical perspective. Appreciation requires some prior knowledge of events of that period in modern Kenyan history.
April 1, 2015
Although only about 150 pages, this short novel spans a twenty-year period in the life of a young Kenyan woman, whom we first meet when she comes to Nairobi at the age of 16 to stay with her new husband in a cramped barrack-like room. Paulina gains independence over time, her personal development taking place against a backdrop of Kenyan independence, political violence, and development of the new nation. It had the arc of a full novel despite its brevity. I see that a more recent edition included a historical note, which would have been helpful, because there are a lot of names and events referred to which I was not familiar with, but it was very interesting nonetheless, and prompted me to want to learn more about this time and place.
April 28, 2016
Coming to Birth is a novel written by Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye, and was first published in 1986. Marjorie moved and settled in Kenya during her early adulthood years. She was quickly integrated into the Luo culture, which is part of the larger African culture. She learnt the way of life, traditions, and customs of the Luo community in the course of her marriage to D. G. W. Macgoye – her husband. The novel gives the clear indication of detailed experiences in the Luo culture and traditions. Full Review at http://african-literature.net/index.p...
October 15, 2016
I kept struggling with this book trying to hear the authentic voice of Paulina. I think what I understand my struggle when I realized that the book was written by a British-born transplant to Kenya. It all made sense then...the lack of authenticity.
August 15, 2016
one of the nice and engaging novel which reflect the life of a born country grappling with neo-colonialism, bad leadership, political instability amon others
May 9, 2009
see your problems as challenges find out way of overcoming it.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews