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".
241.
Lemona's Tale by Ken Saro-Wiwa EN
KenyaDescription:
For a quarter of a century, Lemona has been held in a Nigerian prison, her crimes reflecting her passion and despair, her silence masking the truth. On the last day of her life she is visited by Ola, whose parents Lemona killed. To this woman Lemona recounts the events of her upbringing in poverty, the kindness of friends who took her in, and the abuse, corruption and betrayal by men which led to her downfall. though she is awaiting execution, Lemona's desire to understand the forces that shaped her life resonates throughout her story, leading Ola towards a new interpretation of her own histor... continue
242.
Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn EN
EswatiniDescription:
Krimi. A stunning novel about murder, power, and a dangerous South African underworld. Cooper works undercover surveillance on the seedy Durban docks, but when a young boy is brutally murdered he must elude the police to conduct his own investigation. He discovers an international tussle for the political soul of South Africa
243.
Letter to Jimmy by Alain Mabanckou EN
CongoDescription:
Written on the twentieth anniversary of James Baldwin’s death, Letter to Jimmy is African writer Alain Mabanckou’s ode to his literary hero and an effort to place Baldwin’s life in context within the greater African diaspora. Beginning with a chance encounter with a beggar wandering along a Santa Monica beach—a man whose ragged clothes and unsteady gait remind the author of a character out of one of James Baldwin’s novels— Mabanckou uses his own experiences as an African living in the US as a launching pad to take readers on a fascinating tour of James Baldwin’s life. As Mabanckou reads Baldwi... continue
244.
Lightseekers by Femi Kayode EN
NigeriaDescription:
Selected as a Best Crime Novel of the Month by The Times, Sunday Times, Independent, Guardian, Observer, Financial Times and Irish Times. Waterstones Thriller of the Month 'Lightseekers is the type of detective crime thriller that should be on everyone's shelves' Dorothy Koomson, author of My Other Husband 'A fast-paced thriller that offers insight into the ever present tensions in a poverty stricken community. An action-packed and spirited debut' Oyinkan Braithwaite, author of My Sister, the Serial Killer Winner of the 2019 UEA Crime Writing Prize, Lightseekers is the start of a major new cri... continue
245.
SomaliaDescription:
Returning to Mogadishu, Somalia, from New York after a twenty-year exile, Jeebleh finds a troubled and devastated city ruled by clan warlords and patrolled by violent gangs of thugs, as he works to settle his late mother's outstanding accounts and aids an old friend whose youngest child has been abducted. Reprint.
246.
Little Boys Come from the Stars by Emmanuel Boundzéki Dongala EN
Description:
Sardonic, subtle, and sweetly scathing, Little Boys Come from the Stars is satire at its best. Set in an unnamed country in equatorial Africa, it tells the story of Michel, a precocious teen dubbed Matapari (“trouble”) because of his extraordinary birth. Though his father is a reclusive scholar, his mother a pious though confused Catholic, and his uncle a shameless opportunist determined to gain power in the shifting politics of their post-colonial nation, Matapari remains an unsullied child who wears Reeboks, drinks Coke, reads Japanese comics, and watches Rambo. But when his family becomes t... continue
247.
Little Brother : A Refugee's Odyssey by Ibrahima Balde, Amets Arzallus Antia EN
GuineaDescription:
Based on the author's own life, this heartbreaking novel about an African migrant takes you inside the refugee crisis—for readers of The Lost Children's Archive and The Girl with the Louding Voice. Ibrahima is still a boy when his father dies, but as the eldest son he must leave their home village in the Guinean countryside in search of work to support his family. Eventually apprenticed to a trucker in the capital, he learns that his younger brother has dropped out of school and fled to Libya to pursue the dream of finding work in Europe. Leaving behind everything, Ibrahima sets off with the a... continue
248.
Little Family by Ishmael Beah EN
Country: Africa / 
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Description:
From the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of A Long Way Gone. A powerful novel about young people living at the margins of society, struggling to replace the homes they have lost with the one they have created together. Hidden away from a harsh outside world, five young people have improvised a home in an abandoned airplane, a relic of their country’s tumultuous past. Elimane, the bookworm, is as street-smart as he is wise. Clever Khoudiemata maneuvers to keep the younger kids—athletic, pragmatic Ndevui, thoughtful Kpindi, and especially their newest member, Namsa—safe and fed. When Eliman... continue
249.
Little Rot : A Novel by Akwaeke Emezi EN
Description:
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY HARPER'S BAZAAR, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BOOKPAGE AND MORE! "Emezi unspools a web of erotic danger in their entertaining latest...readers in search of a decadent good time will find it here."–Publishers Weekly A thrilling new novel from the bestselling, award-winning, visionary Akwaeke Emezi One weekend. The elite underbelly of a Nigerian city. A party that goes awry. A tangled web of sex and lies and corruption that leaves no one unscathed. Aima and Kalu are a longtime couple who have just split. When Kalu, reeling from the breakup, visits an exclusive ... continue
250.
Country: Africa / 
South Africa
South Africa
Description:
‘There are many suns,’ he said. ‘Each day has its own. Some are small, some are big. I’m named after the small ones.’ It is 1903. A lame and frail Malangana – ‘Little Suns’ – searches for his beloved Mthwakazi after many lonely years spent in Lesotho. Mthwakazi was the young woman he had fallen in love with twenty years earlier, before the assassination of Hamilton Hope ripped the two of them apart. Intertwined with Malangana’s story, is the account of Hope – a colonial magistrate who, in the late nineteenth century, was undermining the local kingdoms of the eastern Cape in order to bring them... continue