NB Publishers
Colour Me Yellow by Thuli Nhlapo
Colour Me Yellow by Thuli Nhlapo
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‘I hated being pregnant with you. I used to cry the whole day. I hated carrying you in my stomach.’
Thuli Nhlapo grew up constantly hearing these words from her mother. She was seven years old when she realised that no one called her by name. Known as "Yellow”, she was bullied at home and at school. Fearing that she had a terrible disease, she withdrew into herself.
Years later, Thuli is still haunted by her childhood experiences. She confronts her mother about her real father and real surname. Getting no answers, Thuli embarks on years of searching for the truth. In the process, she uncovers unsettling family secrets that irrevocably change all their lives.
Whilst exposing and exploding the impact of family secrets on people’s sense of identity and well-being, it is also a celebration of one woman’s determination to live her life to the fullest. – Mmatshilo Motsei
A meditation on a South African childhood, and a chronicle of a family whose fault lines were fractured because of apartheid. - Khadija Magardie
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I’ve been trying to process how I feel about it. It’s not a badly written book. Not at all. But for the first time in my life, I’ve read a book and wished I hadn’t. Not because of the writing, but because of the story.
It’s a non-fiction book with an incredibly sad story that has completely broken my heart. It’s one I wish I hadn’t encountered. I appreciate the author’s resilience and her dedication to uncovering her real identity, but this story is heavier than I was prepared for. It’s left me feeling so heartbroken.
It’s not just the events themselves, but how much weight they carry. That said, kudos to the author. It takes nothing away from her talent or ability to tell her story. It’s just that the story itself is so devastating.
This is the kind of book that exposes the culture of silence in our African communities, bullying experienced within the family for being the black sheep and the untold love-hate mother-daughter relationship. I have read this book one too many a time, and each time that I have reread it, it is still the same raw emotions that stir up in me and the captivating strength that well up in me that comes to show how powerful owning your narrative is. It is well worth the read!

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