Reviews
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The second installment in the Dancing Soul trilogy, America’s Daughter, is a captivating memoir written by talented author, Maria Nhambu. It begins with Maria’s story after she is adopted and arrives in America. An America where she encounters and learns about racism, cultural differences and prejudice. An America where she struggles to learn a new language, faces discrimination and is forced to adopt a new lifestyle. An America that she in time, makes her own with her unique and unfailing compassion. The story also shares Maria’s visit to Tanzania, where she connects with her roots and learns about her heritage.
Overall, Maria’s piercingly honest documentation of a challenging time in her life is extremely impactful and compelling. It reflects tremendous strength, beauty, and her remarkable ability to take control of her own destiny. It is a deeply moving story from a powerful author who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same. Highly recommended!”
— Review by the Book Excellence Awards
“Nhambu writes with eloquence on the biracial experience across different countries and changing times, and the narrative is sure to bring nostalgia, comfort, and education depending on the different reading ages that come to it.
Drum Beats, Heart Beats is a work of non-fiction that is written in a memoir style by author Maria Nhambu. This work completes a memoir trilogy chronicling the journey of culture, empowerment, and identity of the author: the Dancing Soul Trilogy. After the harrowing experiences in a biracial orphanage in Africa’s Child and the promise of a fulfilling new life in America’s Daughter, we come to a moment where the author wishes to connect both her past and present on a journey of self-discovery to Tanzania. What results is an emotive and thought-provoking account of how we form our identity, and how our place of birth and early experiences may shape us far more than we first think.
Author Maria Nhambu recounts an emotive and passionate tale of desiring to know more about her roots, heritage, and family in this highly compelling and atmospheric memoir. The author is extremely open with her audience, and the prose invites us to explore the various dichotomies of identity within the writer as a result of the experiences which life has shaped. Though there are struggles and harrowing and emotive moments, overall this is a story of triumph and empowerment, and a search for balance and understanding within oneself. Nhambu writes with eloquence on the biracial experience across different countries and changing times, and the narrative is sure to bring nostalgia, comfort, and education depending on the different reading ages that come to it. Overall, I would highly recommend Drum Beats, Heart Beats as an uplifting and fascinating memoir for one and all.”
— K.C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite
I laughed until I cried, I cried until my heart ached, I jumped up and down, I screamed at the pages of the book as if I were speaking to real life people! This narrative is fascinating and extraordinary, it provides a very vivid account of the life of an abandoned mixed-race child in an orphanage in Tanzania. I don’t like to compare authors because I think they are all unique in their own right. However, my all-time favourite author is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and the way Maria writes reminds me of her, she has the same ability to arouse emotions in you that you did not know existed. This book is part one of a forthcoming trilogy and I look forward to reading the other two books. Blessings to you Maria Nhambu, this is a true masterpiece.”
— Green Pastures
Memoirs such as this are rare: the sharing of a problematic childhood that eventually blossoms into a celebration of those very beginnings that seemed dire into eventually becoming a path to self acceptance and understanding that would influence and benefit generations. Maria was born in Tanzania, East Africa, raised in an orphanage as a child who did not know her parents, tended by both German and American nuns, and experiencing not only physical and mental abuse, but also racial discrimination. But as she matured into a teenager she grew with her faith and resilience, becoming self reliant and independent, embraced education and her passion for African tribal dance to the point when she won scholarships to follow her destiny to America and university education.
One of the many reasons this book is so worth of wide attention is the manner in which Maria relates her story. Her prose is polished, enhancing even the most negative aspects with a sure sense of humor. In her Prologue Maria opens the portal for this life: ‘In the piercing cold and windy afternoon of January 4, 1944, a brown Bedford box-body car crawled and bumped along a rough, dusty road high in the Usambara Mountains of Tanganyika, East Africa. Hesitantly it reached its destination: Kifungilo—“gusts of wind” in Kisambaa, the language of the local African tribe. Kifungilo was the home of the Don Bosco Orphanage and School for mixed race, halfcaste, unwanted and orphaned children run by German Catholic Sisters of the Precious Blood Order.’ And later she continues, ‘As a child I prayed often and I prayed hard. Like all children of the orphanage and boarding school at Kifungilo, I was required to say many prayers in Latin when we went to church every day. But I often stayed after services to pray in Swahili for my one great longing—to find my mother. I liked the prayers I made up best.’
Sensitive, insightful, and wonderfully endearing, this I a book with so many important messages that it deserves the attention of all readers – a fine instrument to understanding racial equality and perseverance. Recommended.”
— Grady Harp
“Drum Beats, Heart Beats: A Memoir of Note with Universal Themes
Nhambu’s illuminating, riveting and often surprising third book of a memoir trilogy — Drum Beats, Heart Beats — is an excellent narrative that opens with a seemingly impossible task: A search of the vast area of Tanzania in order to find her father without knowing his identity. However, there is a path forward. She and her beloved brother Larry discover that their family members were hiding several embarrassing sexual, if not romantic, secrets from the past, including a major racial scandal during colonial and postcolonial East Africa, when master/servant relationships were violently controlled and brutally enforced by Europeans. Admittedly, a few secrets were hiding in plain sight.
Over several decades of major accomplishment, Nhambu offers vivid instances of the dynamic forces, both from within and without, that have shaped her destiny as a citizen of the world. She has written an outstanding memoir trilogy, concluding with Drum Beats, Heart Beats. The three books eloquently address universal themes that resonate with people around the world: family, love, spirituality, gender, hope, opportunity, faith, identity, dance, immigration and resilience. Indeed, from the bleak circumstances of her formative years in a Catholic orphanage in rural East Africa, an evolving woman of style, class, substance and beauty emerges — one who has embarked on a spiritual, intellectual and emotional journey of a lifetime.”
— Mitch Dasher II, President, Kappa Upsilon Charitable Foundation, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
I’ve read both of Maria Nhambu’s first books in her Dancing Soul Memoir trilogy with enthusiasm and awe, and I found her latest book in the series, Drum Beats, Heart Beats, riveting!
At age 45, along with her half-brother Larry, she embarks from America on a seemingly impossible search in Tanzania for the father she never knew. Her faith and determination are met with twists and turns and discoveries that made it hard to put the book down. Her divorce after 35 years of marriage and her battle with a serious illness tested the fiber of her constitution, and she not only survives, but transcends and triumphs to become a woman of grace and substance who loves, appreciates and celebrates life, family, Africa, America, and through her extensive travels, throughout the world!
Her writings are relevant, compelling and inspirational. Hers is a story of Hope and Love and Believing in oneself. She opens her heart to the reader with an authenticity that makes you experience her story along with her on every page.
From her humble and traumatic beginning in an orphanage in Africa, Maria Nhambu has emerged a successful author, dancer, educator, fitness professional and a dynamic speaker. I trust that Nhambu will continue to write for her appreciative audience like me; definitely a 5-star message!”
— n’Detenga n’Gurumo
“Maria Nhambu is a gifted writer with insights that will touch your soul !!!
Maria Nhambu, a warm sensuous writer who has managed to unlock the pain, joy and life that dwells within her. Having read Africa’s Child, America’s Daughter and now Drum Beats, Heart Beats, I have become more aware of the pain, joy and life with me. Theses memoirs captivates you and force the reader to release feelings that were once forgotten and stored away for safekeeping.
The author not only brings to life the true essence of Africa’s inhabitants, she shamelessly displays its beauty and tragedy for her readers to reevaluate from their whitewashed beliefs that once gave them a thwarted perspective of life in Africa.
Nhambu pours out her soul and lifts the spirits of all who cross this way. Drum Beats, Heart Beats brings it all to one unimaginable circle of life. After reading Drum Beats, Heart Beats, I was totally consumed with an incredible feeling of hope, power and courage and was left breathless while my mind was searching for a new paradigm to steady and warm my soul.
A very gifted writer with the substance to overcome adversity with the help of “Fat Mary”, a power within. This power quite possibly lays dormant in the rest of us waiting to be called to the rescue.”
— Terry M. Walker
In the final book of Maria’s trilogy, she continues to pour her heart out and shows her strength, faith, and love for herself. We journey with her through the struggles in her marriage, parenthood, and the return to Tanzania, determined to find her father. This book is another page turner. You will not want to put it down. I strongly recommend reading the first two books in the trilogy. You won’t be disappointed!”
— C. Smith
“Inspiring, Humbling, Uplifting
I was thrilled to read Nhambu’s final installment of her memoir trilogy! Reading the culmination of her fascinating life story is inspiring, humbling and uplifting. Like other great authors, Nhambu is able to tell her story in a way that allows the reader to relate to her. We cheer her on her unique journey, but we can also see our own longings in her story. This profoundly personal story resonates universally; a feat that Nhambu accomplished with humor, grace and boundless love!”
— Eleanor K.
“It’s rare to meet someone whose story captivates and inspires so deeply; Maria Nhambu is such a person. During her intensely troubled upbringing, Nhambu overcame more trials than most will ever experience and she fought valiantly for her education and eventually became a teacher. She is a gripping speaker, delivering messages that resonate with many problems unfolding in our culture today: a fear of people and cultures different from our own, a decline in empathy, and the tendency to turn a blind eye to those in need.
Her story resonated because my work as a coach supports clients to uncover limiting beliefs; she challenged her own beliefs and never allowed herself to be limited! As a Rotarian, Maria’s journey is like so many that we serve in developing countries; her story brought the mission of Rotary to life. Nhambu’s message will touch your heart and challenge you to rethink your beliefs and discover new depths of understanding.”
— Irene M. Kelly, NCC, PCC, CVI™, Leadership & Academic Coach, Rotary District 5950, District Governor Nominee
“Maria. I just met a girl named Maria….”
Those lyrics from West Side Story were so intense when I finished reading Maria Nhambu’s Africa’s Child, I sang them aloud and then found lyrics to the entire song online.
Several times I needed to set this profoundly personal memoir aside for a day because of related incidents in my own life that left indelible impressions. Undoubtedly this will happen to all readers of this finely woven portrait. Memories refuse to be stored in cocoons permanently; they have to morph into flight and wing around occasionally.
With only a sprinkling of words, Maria exquisitely describes her natural environment, something that enchanted me, since my mind’s eye felt gifted. She has the rare ability to, with language, let our imaginations join hers and feel what she feels, and see what she sees. On page 17 for instance, this view took my breath away, so I read, and re-read it several times: Hand dug irrigation canals lined with blue and white chrysanthemums and calla lilies wound their way up from a river in the valley through the terraces, and disappeared into the horizon.
I felt very sad about Maria’s assaults by priests who think that “pray” is spelled “prey” and are knee deep in misogyny and pedophilia. Curses! Maria is among the brave who are telling the truth about this hypocrisy and betrayal.
It was a relief to know that Fat Mary managed to prevent Maria from lapsing into psychosis. The strength, courage, intelligence, wisdom and candor. I have Post it Note reminders on my calendar to watch for the next two volumes.”
— Jane E. Lang
“Africa’s Child is a remarkable first book by a gifted writer whose style would do equal justice to works of fiction. This book, the first in an autobiographical trilogy, is not; it is painful personal accounting of a young girl’s very difficult journey through a time when Africa was struggling for identity, independence and survival. Such was also Maria Nhambu’s personal quest as a child stuck in the middle, accepted by neither the ruling white elite, nor their African subjects.
Hers is not only a story of immeasurable pain and sadness, but also of a relentless pursuit of education as key to survival and happiness. The first book was difficult to put down until the final line of the last chapter; the next two books promise to be even more riveting, interesting and surprising.
Kenneth Gilmore, the late Editor in Chief of Readers Digest said of Nhambu’s life story that he had spent a career looking for stories like hers, but usually felt they needed a little added excitement to make them interesting. In Nhambu’s case, he said she probably needed to delete some of the real-life events to make it credible! Africa’s Child is worth all Five Stars. ”
— Kjell Bergh, Consul (Ret.) United Republic of Tanzania
“I loved the Africa’s Child and couldn’t put it down. Nhambu has done a remarkable job of recreating the orphan experience in such a way that I truly felt I was there with little Mary and could see the world through her eyes. It was powerful, moving, beautifully written and it gave me a much better sense of what a child can endure and come out of it with strength and grace and the perseverance to move on.”
— Margo Hinnenkamp, Co-Founder, Traveling Goddesses, Transformational Travel for Women
“Africa’s Child is a captivating and exhilarating read, alternately heartrending and inspiring. Told through the eyes of a keenly perceptive and precocious child coming of age in colonial East Africa, Nhambu’s intensely penetrating insights into complex race, gender, and power relations forge a uniquely personal story that leaves the reader yearning for more.”
—Natasha C. Vaubel, Scholar of African history, literature and film. Former Associate Professor of Comparative Culture, Aichi University, Japan
“Africa’s Child is compelling not only because of its vivid picture of Nhambu’s experience, but because her story is shared by millions of children who are left behind, forgotten, and unwanted today, not just in Africa but in the United States and all around the world. Her story of resilience and faith will bring hope to them.”
— Marian Wright Edelman, Director, Children’s Defense Fund
“A personal memoir unfolds in Eastern Africa with a young, bright, vulnerable girl as its central character — a little girl marginalized at birth by the sting of abandonment and mixed-race, barely existing in the shadows of a Catholic orphanage. In this layered coming-of-age autobiography, first- time author Maria Nhambu nimbly escorts us through her childhood years with intelligence, humor, self-analysis and compassion; in a style that is pitch perfect, Nhambu offers vivid instances of the dynamic forces, both from within and without, that have shaped her destiny. Yet all is not lost. From the bleak circumstances of her formative years, an evolving woman of substance and beauty emerges — one who embarks on an intellectual and emotional journey of a lifetime.”
—Mitchell Dasher II, President, Kappa Upsilon Charitable Foundation, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
“I’ve known Maria Nhambu since 1976 when she came to teach at Central High School where I was principal. With my encouragement, she created and taught an African Studies program. Now, reading Africa’s Child, I understand how much of Africa she brought to her students. Her story is intimately tied to Africa’s story, America’s story and history. An invaluable book for anyone passionate about Africa and the human condition.”
— Joyce Taborn Jackson, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist
“Africa’s Child is a profound coming of age memoir by Maria Nhambu. I describe it as a coming of age story because as she was growing up, Africa and the world were beginning to re-evaluate the role of the Colonialists. As she came of age, her country did become independent.
The story is authentic, raw, and personal. She does not hold back on what was done to children; good and bad in the name of the Church. The book grabbed me from the first page with the riveting telling of her being dropped off at the orphanage. I spent many sleepless nights as I tried to process all that occurred to her through the eyes of a child. She inhabited two worlds, the world of a journalist and the world of a child. She kept both personas together consistently throughout the narrative. It couldn’t have been easy. It is a story of cultural and religious definitions. Who defines who we are? It’s one of the few books that I have read that questions the way black people treat one another, all the remnants of Colonialism. The control of one people over another has tremendous and long lasting implications.
It is one of the few books written from the African’s perspective; some authors do come to mind, but none from a child’s perspective. We all remember bits and pieces of our childhoods, but she and her remarkable memory put us right there with her time after time; page after page. Her inquiring mind, her inquisitive nature, and fierce belief in herself is what saved her. It is the story of hope and perseverance.She had a profound need to know her identify, don’t we all? It’s the story of fear and doubt that resonates among children everywhere, made more profound because she was an orphan. This is a must read for everyone who has struggled for their own identities. This story of triumph cannot end here; we await the second book in this trilogy with bated breath! ”
—Rosalind Murray, former President of National Organization for Women (South Palm Beach Chapter), Former President of National Coalition of 100 Black Women (Palm Beach Chapter)
“I happened upon your DVD "Aerobics with Soul" in my local library, so I checked it out. It has been my regular exercise and fun time for a couple years now. And the movements are helping me get through a rough and ugly chapter of life. I thank you for making this fluid and fun dance aerobics video! My soul and body and mind are soothed through the movements. Thank you so much! ”
— Amber Dawn :), September 2023
“Nhambu is an amazing woman with a graceful power that emanates from her. Her story is inspirational and motivational. She grew up with some of the harshest experiences, yet she was able to weave a gold thread of life, love, faith, and freedom through every experience she endured. She held to her own light and truth even though she was often in a sea of darkness.”
— Kristen Bomas, Speaker, Author, Seminar Leader, The Circle: A Kristen Bomas Company
“Excruciating! Beautiful and so moving! Maria Nhambu’s Africa’s Child is a remarkable autobiography filled with the pains, tortures, and humiliations inflicted upon a young girl abandoned and unloved. Her unique writing style, honest and immediate, illustrates the intimacy of her story and her passion for conquering her world through education. It also puts the reader face to face with the truth about racism, prejudice, child abuse and cultural differences. It asks the question: “Is it different to-day?” This book is a Masterpiece! Thank you Nhambu. It’s hard to find as good a read as Africa’s Child.”
— Marie-Thérèse Reed, Docteur d’ ‘Etat ès Sciences (PH.D.), University of Rennes, France. Officer National Order of Merit
“Africa’s Child was incredible. It will continue to have a profound impact on me. It may have taken 25 years for Nhambu to tell her story, but it was worth every minute to wait for it. What a journey of endurance, survival and triumph of the human spirit. I saw Africa through the eyes of one born there and who dared to give us every detail of how divine intervention sustained her. Thank you for sharing your personal journey with the world.
The glossary was a bonus and provided clarity of situations when needed. I am a visionary and this book has the potential to be a movie. I can’t wait for the sequel to this book. ”
— Sue Anderson, Former Director (Ret.), Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Conyers, Georgia
Nhambu’s Latest Book
In Drum Beats, Heart Beats the author takes us on a safari of her beloved country and we see its wonders through her eyes and her heart.
The first book of the trilogy, Africa’s Child, was released in 2016. The final book of her memoir series—Drum Beats, Heart Beats—reveals more of Nhambu’s life as she searches for her father and was released in 2018.
