The Fire in My Belly
A Quest to Belong in a World of Many Cultures
Cultural initiation, love, life and death all sit at the heart of this enchanting memoir. Yana was born to travelling parents. From the moment she arrived, she joined her English father and German mother on worldwide adventures. Having never known a life with only one cultural norm, this book explores the internal questioning that accompanied her inter-cultural journey. Now living in Johannesburg with her Xhosa, South African husband, Yana parallels stories of her childhood with her experiences as a traditionally-initiated wife. Imbued with poetic language that isn't afraid to enter the gritty and raw of the personal and collective, she explores: How do we map the ethics of engaging with cultural practices that are not our own? And how do we find the place we truly belong?