Ramatoulaye, mwanamke Msenegali ameolewa na Mody, mtu mzito serikalini.
Baada ya miaka mingi ya ndoa Modu anaoa mke mwingine, msichana mdogo
mwenye umri sawa na wa binti yake. Ramatolaye anasahauliwa; pesa na
mapenzi vinahamia kwa mke mdogo. Modu anakufa katika ajali ya gari. Nani
atakayerithi mali za marehemu? Halafu kuna umati uliokuja kwenye kilio
ambao "lazima ulishwe na upewe pesa kwa heshima ya marehemu". Mariana
Ba, mwandishi wa riwaya hii, alikuwa wa kwanza kupewa tuzo ya Noma mwaka
1980. Riwaya hii imetafsiriwa katika lugha kumi na nane na umaarufu wake
unazidi kukua.
Originally published in French as Une si longue lettre this book,
written by the great Senegalese writer Mariama Ba, is the Swahili
translation from the English, by the late Professor Maganga. Une si
longue letter is a classic of the African canon it won the first Noma
Award for Publishing in Africa in 1980, and has been translated into
17 other languages.