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The Girl Who Smiled Beads

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About this listen

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

 Social Sciences Refugee Inspiring

Critic reviews

Extraordinary
Sharp, moving memoir . . . Wamariya tells her own story with feeling, in vivid prose. She has remade herself, as she explains was necessary to do, on her own terms
Her introspection, honesty and humanity in sharing her story and exploring these questions are thoughtful and moving to read
A riveting story and one that, somehow, gives hope too
Clemantine Wamariya has written a defining, luminescent memoir that shines a sharp light on the dark forces that roil our age . . . Her gripping and brutally honest reflections inspire us to count our blessings and summon us to follow her fierce and unrelenting example to try to help build the world we wish to see (Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell)
A touching tale of sorrow and hope, of the worst and the best of mankind
A powerful memoir
Extraordinary and heartrending. Wamariya is as fiercely talented as she is courageous (Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao)
A deeply personal and emotive narrative.
All stars
Most relevant
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'.

Africa

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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.

Well worth the read

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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.

Challenging, uncomfortable, unmissable

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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.

utterly outstanding.

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At times well written, but too much "telling" and not enough "showing". I never felt like the writer sets the scene or makes me visualise the horrible occurrences, which in the end left me cold - which is strange given my already strong feelings about the historical background.

The story never felt whole or rounded off, and there are threads unexplored or only covered very superficially. I liked her tales of culture clash (and racism) in her encounters with America, but once again, she strays too often into preaching her message.

I like my novels to have a little more imagination and a little more subtlety.

Narrated well.

Enjoyable at times

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