In a post-apocalyptic Africa, a woman who has survived the annihilation of her village and a terrible rape by an enemy general wanders into the desert hoping to die. Instead, she gives birth to an angry baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand. Gripped by the certainty that her daughter is different—special—she names her Onyesonwu, which means "who fears death ? " in an ancient language. Onye is Ewu—a child of rape who is expected to live a life of violence, a half-breed rejected by her community.
But as Onye grows, she manifests the beginnings of a remarkable and unique magic, and during an inadvertent visit to the spirit realm, she learns something terrifying : someone powerful is trying to kill her. Desperate to elude her would-be murderer and to understand her own nature, she embarks on a journey in which she grapples with nature, tradition, history, true love, and the spiritual mysteries of her culture, and h , e was given the name she bears : Who Fears Death.