Born in Somalia, a spare daughter in a large family, Shugri Said Salh was sent at age six to live with her nomadic grandmother in the desert. She spend her childhood chasing warthogs, climbing termite hills, herding goats, and moving constantly in search of water and grazing lands with her nomadic family. Though the desert was a harsh place, it also held beauty, innovation, centuries of tradition, and a way for a young Sufi girl to learn courage and independence. Here she writes with frankness and a fierce feminism of trying to break free of the patriarchal beliefs of her culture, of her forced female genital mutilation, of the loss of her mother, and of her growing need for independence. Among the millions displaced by the Somali Civil War, Salh ultimately came to North America to learn yet another way of life. -- adapted from jacket
