English books from South Africa
Recommended English books written by authors from South Africa (35)
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
If you speak English here are some English books from South Africa for the next part of the "Read Around The World Challenge".
1.
A Dry White Season by Andre Brink EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
As startling and powerful as when first published more than two decades ago, André Brink's classic novel, A Dry White Season, is an unflinching and unforgettable look at racial intolerance, the human condition, and the heavy price of morality. Ben Du Toit is a white schoolteacher in suburban Johannesburg in a dark time of intolerance and state-sanctioned apartheid. A simple, apolitical man, he believes in the essential fairness of the South African government and its policies—until the sudden arrest and subsequent "suicide" of a black janitor from Du Toit's school. Haunted by new questions and... continue
2.
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
3.
Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
"I was immediately mesmerized . . . as brilliant as it is haunting." --Toni Morrison
4.
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • More than one million copies sold! A “brilliant” (Lupita Nyong’o, Time), “poignant” (Entertainment Weekly), “soul-nourishing” (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid “Noah’s childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa’s history that must never be forgotten.”—Esquire Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and an NAACP Image Award • Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Time, USA Today, San Francisco... continue
6.
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
An important rumination on youth in modern-day South Africa, this haunting debut novel tells the story of two extraordinary young women who have grown up black in white suburbs and must now struggle to find their identities. The rich and pampered Ofilwe has taken her privileged lifestyle for granted, and must confront her swiftly dwindling sense of culture when her soulless world falls apart. Meanwhile, the hip and sassy Fiks is an ambitious go-getter desperate to leave her vicious past behind for the glossy sophistication of city life, but finds Johannesburg to be more complicated and unforgi... continue
7.
Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
The heroine in this actor's tour-de-force is an ordinary middle class English housewife. As she prepares egg and chips for dinner, she ruminates on her life and tells the wall about her husband, her children, her past, and an invitation from a girlfriend to join her on holiday in Greece to search for romance and adventure. Ultimately, Shirley does escape to Greece, has an "adventure" with a local fisherman and decides to stay. This hilariously engaging play was a hit in London and New York, performed by Pauline Collins, who later recreated her role on film garnering an Oscar nomination.
9.
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
'A great novel by one of the finest authors writing in the English language today' The Times **A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BIG JUBILEE READ PICK** After years teaching Romantic poetry at the Technical University of Cape Town, David Lurie, middle-aged and twice divorced, has an impulsive affair with a student. The affair sours; he is denounced and summoned before a committee of inquiry. Willing to admit his guilt, but refusing to yield to pressure to repent publicly, he resigns and retreats to his daughter Lucy's isolated smallholding. For a time, his daughter's influence and the natural rhythms o... continue
10.
Gem Squash Tokoloshe by Rachel Zadok EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
Faith struggles to make sense of the complex world in which she lives and come to terms with the beliefs her society and upbringing have inculcated in her. This tale of courage, set against the backdrop of a chaotically divided country, recreates the voice of a young girl growing up during the height of apartheid unrest in South Africa.