Cover Image: The Newlyweds’ Window

The Newlyweds’ Window

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Member Reviews

I read an advanced copy of the 2022 Mukana Press Anthology of African Writings, which features a collection of short stories by various up-and-coming African writers. As a fan of discovering new African writers, I was thrilled to get the chance to read this book. The twelve short stories explore various themes, including supernatural events, gender roles, and serial killers. However, some of these themes are unsuitable for younger readers. Some of the stories were disturbing and creepy, which made me not enjoy this book much. Nonetheless, if the stories and characters had been given more time to develop, I would have given this book more than 3 out of 5 stars. This book is worth reading if you enjoy anthologies with varied themes not connected by a central theme.

I want to thank NetGalley and Mukana Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

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The ability of having the source and talent to deliver such unique, riveting perspective thoughts. Every single short story experienced gave a provocative into the daily life within Africa and her beautiful people. We are given a rare glimpse into the tribes, descendants, numerous cultures, and languages within one area. It gave stunning chances to dreamers and up-and-coming authors through anthology.

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Massive thanks to the authors, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Newlyweds' Window is an anthology of short stories written by some incredibly talented authors. While most collections include a common theme, each of these stories were unique and only shared one common thread, Africa. And while not having a common theme could leave a reader feeling lost or overwhelmed with all the different writing styles, motifs, etc., this collection brilliantly bypasses it all.

A reader is catapulted into a world full of mysticism, horror, autonomy, identity, realism, love, sex, power, lies, all of it. And each story uniquely portrays a different sliver of life, all while remaining on the same continent.

Out of the entire collection, two stories have remained in the forefront of my mind: "Rain," by Muuka Gwaba and "The Newlyweds' Window," by Husnah Mad-hy. From drowning in loneliness, to examining the phases of a marriage from the comfort of your bedroom window, these stories were captivating. Honorable mentions are "The Daya Zimu" and "Old Photographs." I genuinely was left feeling scared and anxious.

This is a collection that any reader would find fascinating and I would highly recommend to anyone.

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Thank you to Mukana Press and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of The Newlyweds' Window. I finished this book last year itself, in October 2022, but was unable to provide a review due to personal reasons.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly! This collection of unique and diverse short stories opened a window to the talented writers' minds, each of whom brought their distinct writing styles and individuality in thought to their stories. Each story was extremely different in its plot but had one thing in common: they were all very realistic stories that brought to light our strengths and vulnerabilities as humans.

My favourite stories in the collection were: The Newlyweds' Window, Gasping for Air, How Are You, The Rain, Our Girl Bimpe, This Is For My Auntie Penzie Who, Mareba's Tavern and A Letter From Ireland. So like more than half the collection!

Rating this 4/5 because I enjoyed all the stories (even the ones I did not mention here), albeit not equally. I recommend this collection to anyone who's looking to read something "interesting" - the collection has stories from a variety of genres so it's got something for everyone!

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This collection of stories from numerous African writers does not have a unifying theme, but does showcase both debut and established writers from Nigeria, Zimbabwe Kenya, and the United States. The stories, regardless of experience, are polished, and run the gamut from people watching, to identity, to the use of social media, to serial killers, and to body in the revelation about an absent family member.

The stories are were all well done, but I had a few favourites:

-Gasping for Air: Yikes! This one lingered in my head long after I had finished it.
-Black Pawpaw: I felt the frustration and fear of the narrator.
-Our Girl Bimpe: A girl experiences much more than she bargained for when she created her social media presence.
-Old Photographs: This was creepy!
-This is for my Aunt Penzi, Who—: Disturbing,

Thank you to Netgalley and to Mukana Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

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I love when authors come together, to give a snippet of their writing. This is how I discover a lot of my favorite authors, instead of dedicating to reading an entire book of theirs. It was a fairly quick book and I enjoyed each story

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An interesting set of short stories based in African culture. Very different than my usual reading fare. Very enjoyable.

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Excellent book of short stories written by several different authors from African origin, and that shows on their words, people when they write they give a bit away of their origins, of their life experience and you do feel that here, I would rate most of these stories as speculative fiction, keep in mind that there’s a bit of everything under the sun in this stories, from horror to day to day life, and you know what? In the end it leaves us with a want for more, as in many short stories, some feel so short that definitely we needed a bit more in the end, but most it leaves us with that longing of a good story.

It feels short, and definitely could have been longer, from 512 submissions only 12 were chosen, maybe someday we will have a bigger volume with some of the left out stories and authors, may we cross paths again. I don’t like to give spoilers I will just recommend that you grab a copy for yourself and dive into this book of short stories, I’ll bet that you’ll find something that you’ll really like in this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Mukana Press for the free ARC and this is my honest opinion.

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First, thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Second, overall, I really enjoyed these short stories! They felt... alive... in ways that are sometimes hard to capture, particularly in such a brief format compared to novels. While some I enjoyed more than others, as a whole it is a very solid collection of work: beautifully engaging, generally memorable, and a collection I will most likely buy to have on my shelf and reread again in the future.

4/5

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This is an anthology of writing from the African continent that intentionally centers writing that is not focused on poverty and war.

The premise of this anthology is incredible. Ultimately, what I liked about this book is also what made the book difficult to read. I appreciate that this is a geographic anthology, but the sheer diversity of narratives, genres, and styles of the collection meant that there was no other clear theme to tease out.

Each story is incredibly unique and well-written. I am more of an emerging speculative fiction reader, and there were a solid chunk of stories from that genre. There were also stories highlighting the impact of social media on youth communities, gender disparities, childhood and sexual violence, sexual repression, isolation, and many more critical social themes.

Despite the breadth of this collection, most of these stories were still quite sad. Even when a story delved outside of realism, it still felt very realistic in terms of the events and settings it described. Because of this, many stories were harrowing.

To be clear - this is absolutely not a critique. This is just me - a person who has focused so intently on reading happily ever after’s because the world is a hard place to live in at any given moment - acknowledging that this is a difficult anthology to read if you perhaps do not have the capacity to read what I’ve described.

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Thanks to NetGalley and Mukana Press for this e-ARC!

I was intrigued to expand my reading and genre and this book has not disappointed. This book is an anthology from 12 upcoming African authors whose being carefully selected by the publisher. I enjoy the stories, it gives me insight to the culture and society I'm still unfamiliar with. Some stories are bizzare, lovely, and relatable in general. I do wish that the publisher would provide a footnote to explain some cultural or local terms to help the readers understand it better.

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This work is an anthology of short stories by some of Africa’s finest writers. The stories range from spooky magical realism to all-to-realistic tragedy. Each of the stories is unique and creative, and despite their short length, I found it easy to become immersed in the tales and their characters. I enjoyed that this anthology wasn’t built around a theme, other than the authors’ country of origin.

Gasping for Air – 4 stars – A being’s sole purpose on earth is to judge humans as God’s messenger, but it falls in love with one of its victims.

Border Control – 4 stars – Not all nurses are created equal, as one mother-to-be finds out during giving birth.

Newlyweds’ Window – 5 stars – One girl discovers that not everything that happens behind closed doors is truly private.

Mareba’s Tavern – 3.5 stars – Mareba has done what it takes to provide for her daughter, even if it now causes her daughter to judge her harshly.

Black Pawpaw – 5 stars – A girl tries to believe that beauty on the inside is more important than beauty on the outside.

How Are You – 3 stars – A young woman does her best to take care of her irresponsible siblings and help her mother but soon realizes there’s a disconnect.

Rain – 5 stars – A woman learns the hard way that her neighbors still believe in old superstitions.
Our Girl Bimpie – 5 stars – A young girl loves to learn and outgrows her village school friends, so takes to social media to create a new life.

The Daya Zimu – 5 stars – While trying to make friends with the popular girl, the protagonist learns some interesting and dangerous folklore.

Old Photographs – 5 stars, and my favorite story of the work! – A young girl wants to know more about her absent father and turns to a hidden framed photograph for answers.

This Is For My Aunt Penzi, Who – 3.5 stars – The protagonist learns of the disparity in expectations between locals and foreigners.

A Letter From Ireland – 4 stars – The narrator receives a letter from his uncle who left for Ireland that includes some unexpected news.

This is one of the best collections of short stories I’ve read, and I loved finding an anthology that is all based in Africa and told by Africans. I highly recommend checking out this work! My thanks to NetGalley and Mukana Press for allowing me to read and review this anthology.

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Very different read, super!
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this title in exchange for my feedback.

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I LOVED these stories so much. The diversity, the range of authors with different perspectives and writing styles. I really look forward to these writers, hopefully I will read something from then soon enough.

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This book is a collection of 12 stories from emerging African writers. The stories vary in genre and theme, which makes it easy to jump through and find a story to click with. Each writer did a wonderful job with their contributions to this anthology. I think this book could be a good introduction point to people who want to start reading from more African authors since you get a variety of stories that largely deviate from the narrative that large publishers tend to favor from African writers.

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This was such a well written and collection of amazing stories from writers from across the continent of Africa. Each story was interesting and some of them pulled several emotions out of you. And not all of them are about what people assume living in AFrica is like. Add to the fact that the stories were also from a variety of genres.

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The mission of this collection of short stories is excellent--to increase the visibility of and accessibility to stories from the African continent and the collection succeeds in that goal, containing stories from Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and Kenya. It also aims to publicize new voices, and many of these writers are just beginning their publishing careers. The stories themselves are an interesting variety.

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I've been reading these short fiction stories throughout my normal reads. Each unique and I struggle to find a way to rate in a way that doesn't leave it feeling vague when each story was so individually different. Some I struggled with most, especially the opening story, which left me wondering if it was a literal mission or a mental disorder. To the more whimsical and heartbreaking that followed. Either way, if you are hoping to read more a more diverse set of stories, then this book is for you.

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An interesting set of short stories that sadly did not set my reading on fire. Some were better than others but not the best compilation I have read. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

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This was unique. I like anthologies, so I was looking forward to reading this one. Unfortunately, I did not like this one that much. The writing style was not my type.

Thank you NetGalley for my ecopy.

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