Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 When Malaika's mother, Dipuo, was ten years old, she began reading books that her neighbor, a maid, brought home from her job. She loved reading about romance, and her favorite book was A Perfect Stranger. #2 The community that Dipuo grew up in was known for its proverbs and metaphors. When Dipuo's mother, Matshediso, was born, she would have been called a ngoana, or a little being not too different from an animal. Only when she began to talk would she become a mothoana, or a person. #3 In Johannesburg, black women were employed as maids in white families' literal kitchens. The few times Dipuo's mother went to work in a white woman's kitchen, she was given leftovers while the madam gave her dogs kibble. #4 As a child, Dipuo always wanted more than what she had. She would make you feel bad if you wanted Christmas clothes or school shoes, her friend recalled. She would always shout, Where do you expect I can get that money. I earn so little.