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".
21.
A Practical Guide to Levitation : Stories by Jose Eduardo Agualusa EN
AngolaDescription:
A luminous collection of dryly humorous stories that revel in the surreal and fantastic, from the pen of José Eduardo Agualusa, winner of the International Dublin Literary Award Perfect for readers of Haruki Murakami, Julio Cortázar, and Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift Vividly translated into English for the first time by long-time Agualusa collaborator Daniel Hahn, the jewel-like tales gathered in this collection are an exuberant celebration of story-telling in all its various forms. On the sands of Itamaracá, an old fisherman dreams of fish: shad in the morning, when the water’s smooth and s... continue
22.
A Question of Power by Bessie Head EN
Country: Africa / 
South Africa
South Africa
Description:
"When Elizabeth learns the devastating truth about her mother, locked away for defying Apartheid, she flees South Africa and begins a new life in Botswana, at Motabeng, the village of the rain-wind. But Elizabeth is tormented by two men, Dan and Sello, who represent for her a private vision of hell into which she sinks deeper and deeper. This novel interweaves one woman's terrifying experience of insanity with the madness and cruelty of life in a divided society. A Question of Power is the unforgettable study of an individual - and a race - whose identity has been annihilated, and their result... continue
23.
A Sister to Scheherazade by Assia Djebar EN
AlgeriaDescription:
The story of how Isma and Hajila, wives of the same man, escape from the traditional restraints imposed upon the women of their country.
24.
A Song of Comfortable Chairs by Alexander McCall Smith EN
ZimbabweDescription:
In this latest installment in the beloved No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Grace Makutsi encounters a pair of quandaries that will require all of her and Mma Ramotswe’s cleverness and generosity to resolve. “An escape from life’s woes as well as a suggestion for how to make the whole deal more palatable—fragility, fruit cake, and all.” —The Boston Globe Grace Makutsi’s husband, Phuti Radiphuti, is in a bind. An international firm is attempting to undercut his prices in the office furniture market. Phuti has always been concerned with quality and comfort, but this firm seems interested on... continue
25.
A Spell of Good Things : A novel by Ayobami Adebayo EN
NigeriaDescription:
A dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession, and political corruption from the celebrated author of Stay with Me • "A stunning debut novel ... in the lineage of great works by Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie." —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. Because his father has lost his job, Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor, collecting newspapers, begging when he must, dreaming of a big future. Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a... continue
26.
A Tunisian Tale by Hassouna Mosbahi, مصباحي، حسونة EN
TunisiaDescription:
After ne'er-do-wells spread rumors about a widowed mother's weak moral character among the people of a slum on the outskirts of Tunis that festers with migrants who have come to the metropolis from the heartland in search of a better life, her twenty-year-old son takes matters into his own hands and commits an unspeakable crime. An imaginative and disturbing novel told from the alternating viewpoints of this unrepentant sociopath, as he sits and fumes on death row but willingly guides us through his juvenile exploits and twisted memories, and his murdered mother, who calmly gives an account of... continue
27.
A Woman of Firsts by Edna Adan Ismail EN
SomaliaDescription:
'The Muslim Mother Teresa' Huffington Post Imprisonment. Mutilation. Persecution. Edna Adan Ismail endured it all - for the women of Africa.
28.
Abduction by Anouar Benmalek EN
Description:
Drawn together by the tortured memory of a massacre years ago, a shared experience binds Mathieu, Tahar and Aziz, and has repercussions for Meriem and Chehra, Aziz's wife and daughter. Chehra is abducted, and the kidnapper's brutal demands and threats of violent torture turn this into a tense thriller. But how far will Aziz go to save his family?
29.
Abyssinian Chronicles : A Novel by Moses Isegawa EN
UgandaDescription:
Every once in a while there emerges a literary voice with the power and urgency to immerse readers deep within a previously "invisible" culture. From a young African writer who has already earned comparisons to Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez comes this masterful saga of life in 20th-century Uganda. The teller of this panoramic tale is Mugezi, a quick-witted, sharp-eyed man whose life encompasses the traditional and the modern, the peaceful and the insanely violent, the despotic and the democratic. Born in a rural community in the early 1960s, he is raised by his grandfather, a depos... continue
30.
Addis Ababa Noir by ed. Maaza Mengiste EN
EthiopiaDescription:
Addis Ababa is a sprawling melting pot of cultures where rich and poor live side by side in relative harmony--until they don't.