NOBODY’S DARLING

NOBODY’S DARLING

In the early 1900s, against the backdrop of British colonial rule in Kenya, Mũthoni Nyanjirũ—a fearless young woman—rises up against the injustice of the hut tax and the ban on the sacred ituika ceremony, an ancient Kikuyu rite of passage. Driven by a deep sense of indignation and love for her people, Mũthoni’s protest leads her to a pivotal role in Kenya’s fight for freedom.

Her quest for the rights of her people propels her to Nairobi—the restless township blooming from a marsh—leaving behind those dear to her in order to free them. There, she confronts the injustices of the day head-on, joining hands with like-minded Harry Thuku and Johnstone Kamau in the nascent liberation movement. But when the colonial authorities arrest Harry Thuku in 1922, Muthoni leads a daring protest that ultimately costs her life, making her one of the earliest martyrs of Kenya’s liberation movement. She is unceremoniously buried in an unmarked grave and condemned to oblivion by the very people whose liberty she was fighting for.

Nobody’s Darling reimagines the life of this unsung heroine, piecing together fragments of her defiant legacy from the archives and fading memories. This historical fiction novel was written to mark Mũthoni Nyanjirũ’s centenary in March 2022.