Read Around Africa Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Africa.
Best books from Africa (598)
581.
The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu EN
ZimbabweDescription:
Vimbai is the star hairdresser of her salon, the smartest in Harare, Zimbabwe, until the enigmatic Dumisani appears. Losing customers to this good-looking, smooth-talking young man, Vimbai fears for her job, vital if she's to provide for her young child. But in a remarkable reversal the two becomes allies, Dumi renting a room from Vimbai, then inviting her to a family wedding, where to her surprise, he introduces her to his rich parents as his 'girlfriend'. Soon they are running their own Harare salon, attracting the wealthiest and most powerful clients in the city. But disaster is near, as Vi... continue
582.
Description:
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZE From the award-winning author of the Booker Prize finalist We Need New Names, an anthropomorphic blockbuster of a novel that chronicles the fall of an oppressive regime, and the chaotic, kinetic potential for real liberation that rises in its wake. Glory centres around the unexpected fall of Old Horse, a long-serving, tyrannical leader of the fictional country of Jidada, and the drama that follows for a rumbustious nation of animals on the precarious path to freedom. Inspired by the unexpected fall by coup, in November 2017, of Robert Mugabe—Zimbabwe’s pres... continue
583.
House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma EN
Description:
Winner of the Edward Stanford Prize for Fiction with a Sense of Place; 2019Longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize; 2019Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize; 2019__________'Easily the best debut I've read this year; Tshuma's novel is both hilarious and horrifying; filled with compassion; anger and despair. [Her] unreliable narrator [is] of the kind that deserves to be remembered up there with Humbert Humbert' Kim Evans; Culturefly__________Bukhosi has gone missing. His father; Abed; and his mother; Agnes; cling to the hope that he has run away; rather than been murdered by government thugs. ... continue
584.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith EN
Description:
Fans around the world adore the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and its proprietor, Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s premier lady detective. In this charming series, Mma Ramotswe—with help from her loyal associate, Grace Makutsi—navigates her cases and her personal life with wisdom, good humor, and the occasional cup of tea. This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in thei... continue
585.
Butterfly Burning by Yvonne Vera EN
Description:
Butterfly Burning brings the brilliantly poetic voice of Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera to American readers for the first time. Set in Makokoba, a black township, in the late l940s, the novel is an intensely bittersweet love story.
586.
Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith EN
Description:
THE SECOND BOOK IN THE BELOVED NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY SERIES The one where Precious gains a new family . . . Mma Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is hoping to set up home with Mr J.L.B. Maketoni. But first she must deal with his scheming, misbehaving maid. She also has to confront the most difficult case of her career so far: that of an American who went missing ten years ago, and about whom all leads have long since dried up. Then there are not one, but two sudden additions to Mma's family . . .
587.
The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John EN
Description:
Martine, 11, leaves England to live with her grandmother on a wildlife reserve in South Africa.
589.
Out of Darkness, Shining Light : A Novel by Petina Gappah EN
Description:
“Engrossing, beautiful, and deeply imaginative, Out of Darkness, Shining Light is a novel that lends voice to those who appeared only as footnotes in history, yet whose final, brave act of loyalty and respect changed the course of it. An incredible and important book by a masterful writer.” —Yaa Gyasi, author of Homegoing “This is how we carried out of Africa the poor broken body of Bwana Daudi, the Doctor, David Livingstone, so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own land.” So begins Petina Gappah's powerful novel of exploration and adventure in nineteenth-century Africa—... continue
