Mella and the N'anga

In this retelling of a legend, Gail Nyoka has managed that difficult feat of evoking an earlier time without long explanations that stall the action.

Recently shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Awards (Children's Literature, text category), Mella and the N'anga is a rich and complex story, neatly and clearly told. Mella, the daughter of a king in long-ago Zimbabwe, struggles with the conflict between her own wishes and he social expectations on a girl and a king's daughter. Overlying this is a graver trouble — the illness of her beloved father, and the drought and famine facing the people.

While "coming-of-age" is an overused phrase in describing young adult literature, it definitely applies here. Mella finds that solutions are not as easy as one might hope, that it is not always possible to hand over responsibility to another, and that hard work is as important as special knowledge. She and her friends learn, too, that it is possible to follow their own path while remaining true to the values of their people. Her journey from intelligent child to responsible young woman has an archetypal quality, and is also beautifully readable.

Mella and the N'anga: An African Tale (Sumach Press, 2005; 160 pages) by Gail Nyoka is an engrossing myth set in long-ago Zimbabwe. Mella is the king's daughter, and she learns from the N'anga, a wise woman and healer, that the reason her father has fallen ill and the kingdom has fallen into famine is that the old ways have been forgotten. Strong women have been prevented from filling their roles as Daughters of the Hunt. The N'anga tells the people of the kingdom that only the terrifying Python Healer can save the king and the country. Despite opposition from her aunt and brother, Mella trains with two other girls as Daughters of the Hunt and gathers not only the strength but the wisdom and love necessary to bring the Python Healer to her father.

This is a tale of strength and courage and the willingness of the young women in the story to envision a life for themselves beyond narrow proscribed roles. It's easy to see why this book was nominated for a Governor General's award; Nyoka has created a complete and detailed world, with strong characters and incredible, supernatural adventures that — at least while your nose is in the book — feel like a faithful account of events that could really have occurred.

Set in a mythic, pre-historical southern Africa, Mella and the N'anga, a novel by Trinidad-born, Ontario-based writer Gail Nyoka, is a tour de force of storytelling, at once fantastic but emotionally true and rich. In the walled city of Mopopoto, the King lies dying. As his health declines, so too does the health of the Land of the People (present-day Zimbabwe): drought sets in, and a strong warrior tribe threatens the kingdom.

The king's daughter Mella, guided by the wise Rangarirai, a 'Senior Sister' or elder of the kingdom, summons the Great N'anga, a mythic figure who comes to the city and reveals that only the Python Healer can help the king. While Mella's brother, the warrior Dikita, undertakes a perilous journey to find the Python Healer, the N'anga begins teaching Mella and two other girls the ways of the forest, training them to become Daughters of the Hunt, an ancient order of female sages that has fallen from favour. When Dikita returns to the kingdom, falsely claiming to have been granted the kingship by the Python Healer, it is up to Mella to confront the Python Healer herself, with the future of the kingdom in the balance.

Mella and the N'anga conforms to many of the conventions of a mythic story, unfolding with a comforting familiarity that is nonetheless surprising and emotionally affecting. While the story focuses on empowerment and explores the conflict between patriarchy and matriarchy, Nyoka never belabours these point. She instead allows the narrative, and the strongly developed characters, to reconcile and illuminate these issues, while at the same time providing a unique vision of a skillfully evoked world distant from our own. The world of Mella and the N'anga is a place where gods walk the earth, where magic can heal, and where the gifts of the land come about through wisdom and not brute force. It's a wonderful book, appropriate for readers 10 and older, and a tale that adult readers will also enjoy.