.We 'meet' Kadi on the morning she is to be circumcised when she is still blissfully ignorant of what is about to happen to her. We see her at home, going about her daily chores, eating her breakfast and then accompany her on the journey to the village where the operation is to take place. Photos depict the sacrifice of a chicken as a precursor to her own circumcision and then we witness as Kadi is taken by the buankisa (circumciser), made to undress, held down and then cut.

While the photographs are very confronting, they are portrayed with sensitivity and delicacy, yet evoke sadness and anger, which we hope will serve to rally readers against this practice. A prologue by Dr Olayinka Koso-Thomas, renowned for her work in Africa to end FGM, gives a context for FGM historically and now, and an explanatory text outlines what female genital mutilation actually is.