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The Girl Who Smiled Beads

By: Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth Weil
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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Summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil, read by Robin Miles.
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When Clemantine Wamariya was six years old, her world was torn apart. She didn't know why her parents began talking in whispers, or why her neighbours started disappearing, or why she could hear distant thunder even when the skies were clear.

As the Rwandan civil war raged, Clemantine and her sister Claire were forced to flee their home. They ran for hours, then walked for days, not towards anything, just away. they sought refuge where they could find it, and escaped when refuge became imprisonment. Together, they experienced the best and the worst of humanity. After spending six years seeking refuge in eight different countries, Clemantine and Claire were granted refugee status in America and began a new journey.

Honest, life-affirming and searingly profound, this is the story of a girl's struggle to remake her life and create new stories - without forgetting the old ones.
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'Extraordinary and heartrending. Wamariya is as fiercely talented as she is courageous' JUNOT DIAZ, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

'Brilliant ... has captivated me for a couple of years' SELMA BLAIR

©2018 Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks
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What listeners say about The Girl Who Smiled Beads

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Well worth the read

This should be required reading for anyone about to work with child refugees. While every child's experiences are different, so many important aspects of childhood trauma and it's consequences are covered. An excellent audio book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Africa

It took me a while to get used to swapping between recent and past chapters. I listened sporadically at first so that didn't help... Then went on holiday and had time to not put it down! I felt Clemantine's sadness and anger. I could see her in Africa and kept hoping she would go to Zimbabwe. I'm glad she realised at the end that her mother cared for her in the best way with her prayers. Read this book. It has meaning and relevance, especially the 'orange'.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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utterly outstanding.

Beautifully and sensitively narrated. Deeply moving story. A pearl to humanity, crafted with poetry and heart, and an inspiring invitation to reclaim our lives and loves.

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Challenging, uncomfortable, unmissable

Wow! I am deeply moved by the powerful memoir of this young lady. It is, at times, incredibly challenging and uncomfortable. Clementine Wamariya does not want to be associated with 'survivor porn'. She does not want to be a hero, a fighter, someone we can put in a box with a neat label that allows us to assuage our horror at what she lived through and our guilt over our failure to make a stand for the millions of people living through similar situations today. She challenges us to see, truly to see. She challenges us to come from a place of curiosity and models this by excavating her past and letting us into her journey to make sense of herself and her place in the world. The narration was similarly powerful. Highly recommended.

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not for me!

I found the narrator very difficult. Emotionless and badly punctuated. The book angry and difficult. Not because of the difficult subject matter but the way the story is told.

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