Confession of the Lioness by Mia Couto: book review

Confession of the Lioness (2015) is set in east Africa in 2008.

The narrator, 32-year-old Mariamar Mpepe, lives in Kulumani where lions have killed several villagers. Her sister was the most recent victim, so her father, Genito, desperate to keep his daughter safe, locks Mariamar in the house with her mother Hanifa. But he wants revenge. Her father wants to kill the lions.

The oil company in the area hires a hunter to kill the lions. Archangel (Archie) Bullseye, also a narrator, begins this dangerous job—tracking lions at night. Mariamar and Archie have known each other for sixteen years. She wants to warn him of the danger.

Archie tells his story. His mother is Martina Bullseye. His father Henry was shot and killed by his son Roland—Archie’s brother. Madness is a family curse.

The story is written from two different points of view: Mariamar’s version and Archie’s version. The third party is Gustavo Regalo, a reporter to record the hunting expedition. Gustavo thinks about the lions and why they are killing villagers: ‘No true lion would behave like this.’

This compelling story goes beyond the hunt for lions and the threat of darkness—it extends to pain, loss, suffering, the solitude of distress, and fear—the fear of attack on several levels.

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MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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