English books from Africa

Recommended English books (652)
Travel the world without leaving your chair. If you speak English here are some English books from Africa for the next part of the "Read Around The World Challenge".
211.

How We Buried Puso by Morabo Morojele EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Lesotho flag Lesotho
Description:
Tackling a barrage of relations and eccentrics while dealing with the devastation of war and politics, this poignant narrative explores a country's recent history in a pervasive poetic style. This lyrical account of veiled truths and panoramic splendor--where the true nature of change is revealed in a detailed narrative collage--saturates the senses, shifting masterfully through postcolonial identity, spirituality, and African-ness.

212.

Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais EN

Rating: 5 (3 votes)
Description:
Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy. Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have ... continue

213.

I Am Not Your Slave : A Memoir by Tupa Tjipombo, Chris Lockhart EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Country: Africa / Namibia flag Namibia
Description:
I am Not Your Slave is the shocking true story of a young African girl, Tupa, who was abducted from southwestern Africa and funneled through an extensive yet almost completely unknown human trafficking network spanning the entire African continent. As she is transported from the point of her abduction on a remote farm near the Namibian-Angolan border and channeled to her ultimate destination in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, her three-year odyssey exposes the brutal horrors of a modern day middle passage. During her ordeal, Tupa encounters members of Africa's notorious gangs, terrifying wi... continue

214.

I Will Not Grow Downward - Memoir of an Eritrean Refugee : My Long and Perilous Flight from Africa's Hermit Kingdom by Kenneth James Howe, Yikealo Neab EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Eritrea flag Eritrea
Description:
I WILL NOT GROW DOWNWARD - MEMOIR OF AN ERITREAN REFUGEEONE MAN'S LONG AND PERILOUS FLIGHT FROM AFRICA'S HERMIT KINGDOM THIRTY YEARS OF BLOODY CONFLICT with a powerful enemy never broke the spirit of the Eritrean people. After winning their freedom from Ethiopia, a young man dreams of starting a new life, building a home, and teaching his children what it means to be the masters of their own fate. But all-too soon, the fighting resumes. Rounded up and forced into conscription, subjected to inhumane treatment, made to serve a despotic leader in an army fighting a war nobody wants, he will have ... continue

215.

If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais EN

0 Ratings
Description:
A rich, unforgettable story of three unique women in post-Apartheid South Africa who are brought together in their darkest time and discover the ways that love can transcend the strictest of boundaries. In a squatter camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg, seventeen-year-old Zodwa lives in desperate poverty, under the shadowy threat of a civil war and a growing AIDS epidemic. Eight months pregnant, Zodwa carefully guards secrets that jeopardize her life. Across the country, wealthy socialite Ruth appears to have everything her heart desires, but it's what she can't have that leads to her breakd... continue

216.

Igifu by Scholastique Mukasonga EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Rwanda flag Rwanda
Description:
The stories in Igifu summon phantom memories of Rwanda and radiate with the fierce ache of a survivor. From the National Book Award finalist who Zadie Smith says, "rescues a million souls from the collective noun genocide." Scholastique Mukasonga's autobiographical stories rend a glorious Rwanda from the obliterating force of recent history, conjuring the noble cows of her home or the dew-swollen grass they graze on. In the title story, five-year-old Colomba tells of a merciless overlord, hunger or igifu, gnawing away at her belly. She searches for sap at the bud of a flower, scraps of sweet p... continue

217.

In the Country of Others : A Novel by Leila Slimani EN

Rating: 4 (4 votes)
Country: Africa / Morocco flag Morocco
Description:
The award-winning, #1 internationally bestselling new novel by the author of The Perfect Nanny, about a woman in an interracial marriage whose fierce desire for autonomy parallels her adopted country's fight for independence The world of men is just like the world of botany. In the end, one species dominates another. One day, the orange will win out over the lemon, or vice versa, and the tree will once again produce fruit that people can eat. In her first new novel since The Perfect Nanny launched her onto the world stage and won her acclaim for her "devastatingly perceptive character studies"... continue

218.

In the ditch by Buchi Emecheta EN

0 Ratings
Country: Africa / Nigeria flag Nigeria
Description:
Tells the story of a young Nigerian woman who is separated from her husband and living with her five small children in London in the 1960's.


220.

In The Name of God by Yasmina Khadra EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Africa / Algeria flag Algeria
Description:
Imagine becoming accustomed to terror on a daily basis. Imagine finding it normal to betray your neighbor. Imagine your worst fears being replaced by complacency, your natural compassion by cold indifference. In the Name of God illustrates the way evil can become a part of everyday life. And it is the story of Algeria today.


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