num_pages: 248
description: Fiction. A bestseller in New Zealand and winner of the prestigious Commonwealth Prize, Sia Figiel's debut marks the first time a novel by a Samoan woman has been published in the United States. Figiel uses the traditional Samoan storytelling form of su'ifefiloi to talk back to Western anthropological studies on Samoan women and culture. Told in a series of linked episodes, this powerful and highly original narrative follows thirteen-year-old Alofa Filiga as she navigates the mores and restrictions of her village and comes to terms with her own search for identity. A story of Samoan PUBERTY BLUES, in which Gauguin is dead but Elvis lives on -- Vogue Australia. A storytelling triumph -- Elle Australia.
language: English
title: Where We Once Belonged
titlecomplete: Where We Once Belonged
genres: 20th Century, Young Adult, Literary Fiction, Novels, Coming Of Age, Adult, Fiction, Poetry, Read For School, Contemporary
ratings_count: 572
awards: awardedAt: 852105600000
name: Commonwealth Writers' Prize
category: Best First Fiction in South East Asia and Pacific
publisher: Kaya Press