The Old Drift

by Namwali Serpell

You must nurture that brain! Do not let it rot.’

Matha loved learning so much that she thought learning was love.

‘Where have you posted up?’ Cookie asked. ‘With Grace. In Kalingalinga.’ ‘You’re living with Dis-Grace!?’

Her lashes grew so tangled that they planted themselves in the pores of the swollen flesh around her eyes until, like Venus flytraps, they looked sewn shut.

crying like it was a hobby?

Maybe she is Maybelline!

First to her favourite book, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths.

About fractions and about why Athena was better than Aphrodite.

a novel in her lap.