Daughter of the Leopard: True Stories From a Samburu Maasai Girlhood

A stubborn, precocious young girl is caught in the front line of the clash of cultures, as her remote tribe confronts new modern possibilities. In 1970s Kenya, modernity’s edge has finally made it up the hills to the Samburu tribe’s secluded highland home. As her family reckons with new challenges to their ancient ways, young Monique chases belonging and her dreams. She sees her path ahead: towards independence, and away from being sold in young marriage. But with danger all around, it will take all of her grit, allies, and luck to stay on her chosen path, and to survive. Real-life stories of a remarkable childhood, filled with humor, beauty, calamity, and strength: featuring pre-electricity traditional village life, outlaws and bandits, magnificent wildlife, a crazy cow, a traditional healer grandfather, rescues and escapes, mean “Granny Ears” and her rhino-hide belt, Catholic boarding school, and much more. Recommended reader age 14+, due to some mature themes and some cursing.