The Girl Who Smiled Beads

A Story of War and What Comes After

By: Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth Weil

Narrated by: Robin Miles

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The plot provided by the universe was filled with starvation, war and rape. I would not—could not—live in that tale.”

Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when her mother and father began to speak in whispers, when neighbors began to disappear, and when she heard the loud, ugly sounds her brother said were thunder. In 1994, she and her fifteen-year-old sister, Claire, fled the Rwandan massacre and spent the next six years migrating through seven African countries, searching for safety—perpetually hungry, imprisoned and abused, enduring and escaping refugee camps, finding unexpected kindness, witnessing inhuman cruelty. They did not know whether their parents were dead or alive.

When Clemantine was twelve, she and her sister were granted refugee status in the United States; there, in Chicago, their lives diverged. Though their bond remained unbreakable, Claire, who had for so long protected and provided for Clemantine, was a single mother struggling to make ends meet, while Clemantine was taken in by a family who raised her as their own. She seemed to live the American dream: attending private school, taking up cheerleading, and, ultimately, graduating from Yale. Yet the years of being treated as less than human, of going hungry and seeing death, could not be erased. She felt at the same time six years old and one hundred years old.

In The Girl Who Smiled Beads, Clemantine provokes us to look beyond the label of “victim” and recognize the power of the imagination to transcend even the most profound injuries and aftershocks. Devastating yet beautiful, and bracingly original, it is a powerful testament to her commitment to constructing a life on her own terms.

©2018 Clemantine Wamariya, Elizabeth Weil (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Winner of the 2019 ALA/YALSA Alex Award

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2018

A Glamour Best Book of 2018

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018

A Real Simple Best Book of 2018

“Sharp, moving . . . Wamariya and her co-author, Elizabeth Weil . . . describe Wamariya’s idyllic early childhood in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, and the madness that followed with an analytic eye and, at times, a lyrical honesty. . . . Wamariya is piercing about her alienation in America and her effort to combat the perception that she is an exotic figure, to be pitied or dismissed. . . . Wamariya tells her own story with feeling, in vivid prose. She has remade herself, as she explains was necessary to do, on her own terms.”—Alexis Okeowo, New York Times Book Review

"Like Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, on being a boy soldier in Sierra Leone, or Joseph Kim’s Under the Same Sky, on escaping North Korea, The Girl Who Smiled Beads is at once terrifying and life-affirming. And like those memoirs, it painstakingly describes the human cost of war."—Washington Post

beautiful and worthy

I did struggle a bit but it was not the narrator. it is my own shame of being me. it is an accountable story line of Clemantine and her truth and wanting to fight anyone who seems to care. Noone really cares, everyone cares. What do we xare about truly ? It is a most difficult poignant necessary truth of beauty. As I say I am broken and beautiful.

Great Book

Loved it, touched every emotion. One of the best books I have listened to in a long time. Shows how there should be more love and understanding of each other.

We are all created equal.

Moving Story

beautiful story of life and innate resilience. i learned so much about history, too.

such a profound novel

just finished listening and the epilogue has me crying my eyes out. finishing this book is like saying goodbye to a dear friend.

Completely Captivating

It has been a long time since I found a book so completely captivating that I couldn’t push “stop”. Her accounts of her experiences, how she continually overcomes, simply beautiful. I even started it over and had my 3 daughters listen, too.
5+ STARS!!!

3.5 stars rounded up.

Ms. Wamariya wrote a beautiful memoir that shows her strength, her intelligence and most of all her resilience. This book made me smile. It made me cry. It made me think about my own children and about what could have been. I am lucky. We are a working class American family and often struggle. I often worry. But this book reminded me how lucky I am to live in a war-free, comfortable home with running water, electricity, food and so much more. This woman was a little girl surviving a brutal war with only an older sister and her infant. They traveled hundreds of miles over the course of many years before they were given the chance to come to America as refugees. I will be looking to watch her TED talk very soon.

Come, Listen and Be Inspired

Oh my. I was scared, actually so hesitant to open my ears and mind and heart to allow Clemantine to tell the story of her journey through Rwanda. But I was richly rewarded. Yes, it is the story of her suffering the pain of war, but it is so much more. Not only is her story deeply compelling, but the vocal quality of Robin Miles' narration is just perfect. Robin's voice is flawless - Her delivery is warm, compassionate, genuine. I can't say enough good things about this Audible production.

Testimony of A Refugee

Clementine's story of her life and family make you consider the refugee as people and consider their concerns and needs. This at a time of Afghanistan, Mexico, and Haiti concerns. Excellent job.

Need a Paradigm Shift?

Beautiful account. It helps me to view life through a different lens. I appreciate what Good has given me even more. (even though Clementine doesn't agree with that whole notion. )

Beautiful story

This a a great story. Clementine is such a strong, wonderful person who has gone on a scary, incredible journey. This story helped me learn about history and reflect on my own world. And I would like to learn more about Rwanda and the genocide that happened there.