Description

Book Synopsis

Mariama Bâ's pioneering debut, So Long a Letter, captures the private lives of women in 1970s Senegal.

Recently widowed, Ramatoulaye is required to take sole responsibility for the long mourning process of her late husband. A husband she has not seen in over four years not after he married his second wife. In a letter to her friend, Ramatoulaye recalls both of their experiences as students impatient to change the world, as wives suffering in the private sphere of marriage, and as mothers witnessing the dangers of Westernisation.

Undaunted by topics of polygamy, social castes, and religion, So Long a Letter is a novel rich with poetic prose and profound wisdom.

'Mariama Bâ is in a class of her own, conveying with real power and poetry a subtle, changing world of female experience.' Guardian
The most deeply felt presentation of the female condition in African fiction.' Abiola Irele

So Long a Letter

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    A Paperback by Mariama Ba

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    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Tue 20 Oct 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Bloomsbury
      Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
      Published 1 May 2024
      ISBN-13 9781035906062
      978-1035906062
      ISBN-10 1035906066
      Also in:
      Fiction Contemporary Fiction

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Mariama Bâ's pioneering debut, So Long a Letter, captures the private lives of women in 1970s Senegal.

      Recently widowed, Ramatoulaye is required to take sole responsibility for the long mourning process of her late husband. A husband she has not seen in over four years not after he married his second wife. In a letter to her friend, Ramatoulaye recalls both of their experiences as students impatient to change the world, as wives suffering in the private sphere of marriage, and as mothers witnessing the dangers of Westernisation.

      Undaunted by topics of polygamy, social castes, and religion, So Long a Letter is a novel rich with poetic prose and profound wisdom.

      'Mariama Bâ is in a class of her own, conveying with real power and poetry a subtle, changing world of female experience.' Guardian
      The most deeply felt presentation of the female condition in African fiction.' Abiola Irele

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