Read Around Africa Challenge
Read at least one book by an author from each country in Africa.
Best books from Africa (899)
691.
The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales by Bessie Head EN
Country: Africa / 
South Africa
South Africa
Description:
Botswana village tales about subjects such as the breakdown of family life and the position of women in this society.
692.
When Rain Clouds Gather & Maru by Bessie Head EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
When Rainclouds Gather: Escaping South Africa and his troubled past, Makehaya crosses the border to Botswana, in the hope of leading a peaceful, purposeful life. In the village of Golema Mmidi he meets Gilbert, a charismatic Englishman who is trying to modernise farming methods to benefit the community. The two outsiders join forces, but their task is fraught with hazards: opposition from the corrupt chief, the pressures of tradition, and the unrelenting climate ever threaten to bring tragedy. Maru: Margaret, an orphan from a despised tribe, has lived her life under the loving protection of a ... continue
693.
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
694.
Mother to mother by Sindiwe Magona EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
A searing novel, told in letter form, that explores the South African legacy of apartheid through the lens of a woman whose Black son has just murdered a white woman Mother to Mother is a novel with depth, at once an emotional plea for compassion and understanding, and a sharp look at the impacts of colonialism and apartheid on South African families. Inspired by the true story of Fulbright scholar Amy Biehl's murder, the book takes the form of a letter to the victim’s mother. The murderer’s mother, Mandisa, speaks of a life marked by oppression and injustice. Through her writing, Mandisa reve... continue
695.
Devil's Valley by André Brink EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
A reporter in South Africa discovers a lost valley whose inhabitants continue to practice apartheid. They are the descendants of an 1880s fundamentalist Christian sect and they have managed to maintain their isolation by murdering visitors. A satire on Afrikaner culture by the author of A Dry White Season.
697.
Sit Down and Listen: Stories from South Africa by Ellen Kuzwayo EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
'For so many years now,' writes the author of this delightful collection, 'we have owned our stories while owning so little else.'
Ellen Kuzwayo's autobiography Call Me Woman was an international bestseller. At last we hear her extraordinarily distinct voice again, this time in a series of stories culled from her rich personal experience as community leader, social worker, teacher and black woman in South Africa.
These tales explore the complex life of contemporary black South Africa through the traditional form of story-telling. But the stories themselves are no... continue
698.
The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
The stirring adventure that begins The Lord of the Rings, the greatest fantasy epic of all time When Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves embark upon a dangerous quest to reclaim the hoard of gold stolen from them by the evil dragon Smaug, Gandalf the wizard suggests an unlikely accomplice: Bilbo Baggins, an unassuming Hobbit dwelling in peaceful Hobbiton. Along the way, the company faces trolls, goblins, giant spiders, and worse. But as they journey from the wonders of Rivendell to the terrors of Mirkwood and beyond, Bilbo will find that there is more to him than anyone—himself included... continue
699.
No Time Like the Present by Nadine Gordimer EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
A sharply observed new novel about post-apartheid South Africa from the Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer is one of our most telling contemporary writers. With each new work, she attacks—with a clear-eyed fierceness, a lack of sentimentality, and a deep understanding of the darkest depths of the human soul—her eternal themes: the inextricable link between personal and communal history; the inescapable moral ambiguities of daily life; the political and racial tensions that persist in her homeland, South Africa. And in each new work is fresh evidence of her literary genius: in the sharpness of ... continue
700.
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