In 2022, Gilbert Mwangi published NOBODY’S DARLING, a historical fiction of Muthoni Nyanjirù, one of the original human rights activists against the coloniser. She was gallant and fearless. The story of Muthoni, like that of many female freedom fighters is filled with gaps. Those gaps were what Gilbert fictionalised to give us an amazing story.
But this is not about Gilbert’s first solo book, it’s about his second one, MŪMBI AND THE FULL NINES, released a few weeks ago.
It’s a book I have personally been waiting for, for at least two years, and I was not disappointed. I am sucker for ūndūire, yaani our traditional ways. I search for these stories with hunger. I speak to old people. I look for information in books and online but what is sad is that over the years, a lot of information about Afrikan ways has been lost through infiltration of foreign deities and foreign ways. Not much we can do except work with what we have.
Which is exactly what Gilbert has done with his second book, like he did with the first one – work with what he had. This is a story about the origin of the Agīkūyū and like ALL creation stories, it doesn’t make sense. It is not meant to – none of them are. It’s a conspiracy by the Gods to keep us confused.
Gīkūyū and Mūmbi, just like Adam and Eve of the bible, just appeared. They didn’t have two sons like Adam and Eve, they had nine daughters. The Agīkūyū clans are named after the nine daughters, the sub-clans after the men. Agīkūyū are a matriarchal society. House of Mūmbi. That, and the fact that Mūmbi was given patronage over one of the defining ‘items’ of the tribe – fịre. Mwaki.
If you are a Gīkūyū speaker, you will be familiar with ‘nī ūrairie mwaki’ – (did your fire last through the night?), as an acceptable greeting.
In the beginning, the fire Ngai (God) handed to Mūmbi burned constantly in her hut – it meant everything was alright. The fire given to Mūmbi was meant to burn eternally, but when Gīkūyū’s ambitious grandson (son of the first daughter, Wanjirū), it resulted in the first discord in the tribe. There was a big war, for the mwaki. The story largely revolves around the importance of fire in the house of Mūmbi, that it is not just for cooking and warmth, but it is as spiritual as the five mountains. And it must never go off. Fire is both literal and metaphorical.
The book has facts as passed down orally by those who loved before us, but it also captures Gilbert’s imagination as fillers.
Nī ūrairie mwaki.
PS:
This review first appeared on Ciku Kimani’s Facebook page on 8th April,2026.