ISSA

• An empowering, powerful, and poignant debut.
• From Cameroon to Germany, five generations unfold in this epic family novel.
• Recommended by New Books in German.
• English sample translation available.

"I know their stories so well that sometimes I feel like I have experienced them myself."

Issa does not really want to embark on this journey. Pregnant, she sits on the plane to Douala, driven by her mother's fear for her daughter's life during childbirth. In Cameroon, the land of her childhood, she is supposed to follow the healing path of rituals, under the watchful eyes of her grandmothers. However, it is not that simple when you are considered too Black in Frankfurt and too German in Buea. The visit becomes a confrontation for Issa with her own family history and the certainty that both traumas and the unwavering will to love and live are inheritable.

Mirrianne Mahn intricately weaves together the fates of five women whose lives span more than a century and yet are connected by the lines of colonial exploitation and the pursuit of self-determination.