Description

A young woman leaves her upcountry home for more exciting life in the city. Her mother is dead. Her father is as good as dead. She is ‘free’ but insecure, in spite of a well paid job as a personal secretary. She soon realises that a young and ‘promising’ woman requires much more than high speeds in shorthand and typing.

“Why haven’t you finished the letter?”
“I’ll…I will…”
“Well, take it easy … regard me not say your boss now, but as … What shall I say? … Josephine, can’t you be good?”

To Josephine, life in the city is a hazy mixture of love, laughter, tears, typewriters and men, but in the long run she finds it unfulfilling. Desperate for love and protection, she plunges into marriage that offers her little in the way of happiness. (less)

Synopsis

Josephine is a young woman trying to make ends meet in Nairobi, where she works as a secretary. When her boss continuously encourages her to “visit” his place and she continuously ignores or refuses, he fires her. Without a job, she must also decide whether she loves Musyoki or Joseph as all her friends, including her best friend Agnes, are off getting married.

For Josephine, her journey seems almost surreal as events unfold before her, and she struggles to make up her mind about how she feels over her love interests. Trapped between the reality of what she should do and what she would like to do, this blurry line is hardly explicit; yet it is present enough to carry the tension throughout the novelette.