Then she was born
GENRE
DRAMA RELIGIOUS SUSPENSE / THRILLER
Core Theme
ACCEPTANCE OF THE DIFFERENT
TIME PERIOD
Contemporary
COMPARABLE TITLES
BLOOD DIAMOND, TRAFFICKED, THE WALKING DEAD
CHARACTER LIST
• ADIMU: INFANT TO 13. SHE WAS BORN AN ALBINO AND HER TRIBE SEES HER AS A CURSE. SHE BELIEVES THE BEST IN PEOPLE AND IS TAUGHT TO PREPARE FOR THE WORST.
• SARAH FIELDING: 30. VISIONARY, BEAUTIFUL, CHARMING, EDUCATED, GRACIOUS
Logline
Then She Was Born is more than a novel. It's an international human rights awareness campaign supported by eleven Nobel Peace Prize laureates, the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis. Based on an inconceivable reality for many in the world today, Then She Was Born combines the drama and redemption of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner with the spirituality of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. A child is born and the joy of her parents turns to horror. The child is different, in a way that will bring bad luck to their superstitious community. The tradition should be for her to be abandoned, but Nkamba, the grandmother, is allowed to care for her. Naming her Adimu, Nkamba raises her as her own. Adimu is constantly marginalized and shunned by the community, although her spirit remains undiminished and full of faith. But when she encounters the wealthy British mine owner Charles Fielding and his wife Sarah, it is the beginning of something which will test them all. As Charles Fielding's fortunes wane, he turns in desperation to a witch doctor whose suggestion leaves him horrified. But as events begin to spiral out of control he succumbs to the suggestions and a group of men are sent on a terrible mission. The final acts, of one man driven by greed and another by power, will have a devastating effect on many lives. Cristiano Gentili's glittering prose and vivid imagery will have you captivated from the first page.
Target Audiences
Age: 18-34
Target Gender: Universal
Setting
Tanzania
Based on a True Story
Yes
Publishing Details
Status: Yes: self-published
Year Published: 2017
Starting Description
...
Ending Description
...
Group Specific
Information not completed
Hard Copy Available
No
ISBN
Information not completed
Mature Audience Themes
Information not completed
Plot - Other Elements
Twist, Meaningful Message, Coming of Age
Plot - Premise
Internal Journey/Rebirth
Main Character Details
Name: Charles Fielding
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Role: Antagonist
Key Traits: Manipulative, Power-hungry, Aggressive, Blunt, Complex, Decisive
Additional Character Details
Name: Adimu
Age: 13
Gender: Female
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Insecure, Obedient, Uneducated, Desperate
Additional Character Details
Name: Sarah
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Role: Emotional
Key Traits: Perseverance, Romantic, Visionary, Beautiful, Charming, Educated, Gracious
Additional Character Details
The author has not yet written this
Brief
The story is about Adimu, an African born Albino. Her tribe believes she is a curse by the name of Zeru Zeru and she is outcast by everyone she knows except her Grandmother Nkamba, who raises her away from the world. Once Nkamba passes, its up to Adimu to navigate a cruel and hurtful reality by herself, that includes dodging poachers who want her body parts for the black market.
What We Liked
- The audience will latch on to Adimu. From the days she was an infant, forced to pass a Lake
God's trials, the audience is rooting for this cheerful little girl;
- The premise is something that has never been done before. This story throws the audience
into a world they have never even imagined;
- Gritty TV has become the desired style of shows to watch -- Game of Thrones, The Walking
Dead, Breaking Bad. Then She Was Born is gritty as those shows, dealing with a little girl being
outcast and hunted for her skin she was born with;
- If done right, the performances will lead to award nominations;
- The story definitely puts its main character through the ringer and she still smiles, something
the audience wants to see in themselves;
- Not exactly a true story but an amalgamation of true events.
Synopsis
In a remote country called Mwanza there is an Island by the name of Ukerewe. A tribe inhabits the place and is about to be flipped upside down. A woman gives birth to an Albino -- or as the tribe calls it, a Zeru Zeru, A White Shadow. The tribe wants to get rid of it but the grandma, Nkamba, wants to keep it. So the tribal priest says that if it passes the Lake God's test, it will be able to live. It passes the test and lives outside the tribal village.
Flash forward many years and the Zeru Zeru is a young child by the name of Adimu. Adimu and her grandmother, Nkamba, live in a hut outside the village. Nkamba tries to protect Adimu because the people of Ukerewe -- and Mwanza, for that matter -- believe albinos are cursed, less than people. Adimu is curious and still wants to live a 'regular life'. She is constantly shunned by her mother, her father, her brother, the tribe, and most anyone else that comes into her life. Nkamba does all she can to keep her safe and lift her spirits. Nkamba ends up passing away due to old age and Adimu promises her Bibi 2 things; 1) she will become a doctor, and 2) she will keep safe.
At the age of 13 Adimu has to grow up; and growing up means making the wrong choices from time to time. Unfortunately for Adimu, that could mean her life. Adimu believes the wrong people and is put in a camp that is supposed to 'protect' her from people that want her albino arm. In this prison, she meets her best friend and fellow albino Shida. They develop a friendship while in the prison.
One night, Adimu escapes. She is so guilt ridden that she couldn't break Shida out that she makes a plan to go back. She breaks Shida out and puts her on a bus out of Mwanza where she knows Shida will be safe.
While sleeping, Adimu is caught by some head hunters. They carry her to the middle of a forest and have her arm cut off. They would have killed her and harvested more of her but she’s saved by Charles Fielding, a gold mine lord. As Adimu clings to life, she is rushed to the hospital.
When she recovers Adimu is adopted by Sarah Fielding and is finally safe, in a place filled with love.