The Joyful Song of the Partridge

“Chiziane, the first Mozambican woman to publish a novel after the country gained independence in 1990 … takes up the story of an unfortunate woman’s parents, born into poverty while the country is under Portuguese rule … The cruel racial hierarchy of colonization, internalized, plays out within the microcosm of her family … A story ultimately about Mozambique itself, and the struggles and hopes of its people.” — Kirkus Reviews“In The Joyful Song of the Patridge, sanity confronts lunacy. Through mythmaking and demystification, Paulina Chiziane turns the tragedy of tradition into decolonial fantasies of national reconciliation, reconstruction of history, and magical female empowerment. Beyond a collector of memories, Paulina Chiziane recounts Mozambican past with the fervent tranquility of a modern visionary and griot.” — Niyi Afolabi”[The Joyful Song of the Partridge] is a paean to women … a superbly told tale, this English translation is long overdue.” –– The Modern Novel“The sinewy and striking latest from Chiziane … artfully portrays the intricacies of Mozambican life and the country’s racial tensions … Chiziane’s winding narrative emerges as a scathing indictment of colonialism’s impact on the lives of women.” – Publishers Weekly“I’d known from reading Paulina Chiziane’s The First Wife that she’s a writer who embraces wide-ranging emotional shifts and ambitious themes. With The Joyful Song of the Partridge, she goes even deeper into both modes—this is a novel about Mozambique’s history, about the practice and legacy of colonialism, and the moral compromises people make in order to survive. It’s a novel that plays out on scales both intimate and international, and rarely goes where you’d expect.” – Tobias Carroll, Words Without Borders“Chiziane’s prose, which at times slips into stream of consciousness, is replete with images … Most are beautiful … This novel is evidence that [Chiziane’s] writing still resonates.” – Franklin Nelson, The Times Literary Supplement

Paulina Chiziane, born in 1955, studied Linguistics in Maputo and published her first novel, Balada de Amor ao Vento, after Mozambique gained independence in 1990. It was the first novel published by a Mozambican woman. Chiziane prefers to consider herself a storyteller rather than a novelist, and bases her work on the rich heritage of the oral tradition. In 2021, she won the Camões Prize, the world’s most important distinction in the Portuguese language.

Translator David Brookshaw is a professor emeritus at the University of Bristol, England. He has published widely in the field of Brazilian and Lusophone postcolonial studies, and has also translated the work of various authors from Portuguese, including Mia Couto’s Confession of the Lioness and Onesimo Almeida’s Tales from the Tenth Island. He has also compiled an anthology of stories by the Portuguese writer Jose Rodrigues Migueis, The Polyhedric Mirror.

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