English books from Africa
Recommended English books (825)
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".
651.
The Perfect Nanny : A Novel by Leila Slimani EN
MoroccoDescription:
She has the keys to their apartment. She knows everything. She has embedded herself so deeply in their lives that it now seems impossible to remove her. One of the 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR of The New York Times Book Review, by the author of Adèle, Sex and Lies, and In the Country of Others “A great novel . . . Incredibly engaging and disturbing . . . Slimani has us in her thrall.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist and Hunger “One of the most important books of the year. You can’t unread it.” —Barrie Hardymon, NPR’s Weekend Edition When Myriam decides to return to ... continue
652.
The Perfect Nine : The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o EN
KenyaDescription:
Longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse from the author Delia Owens says “tackles the absurdities, injustices, and corruption of a continent” Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's novels and memoirs have received glowing praise from the likes of President Barack Obama, the New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and NPR; he has been a finalist for the Man International Booker Prize and is annually tipped to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and his books have sold tens of thousands of copies around the world. In his first attempt at the epi... continue
653.
The Pillar of Salt by Albert Memmi EN
TunisiaDescription:
Originally published in 1955, The Pillar of Salt the semi-autobiographical novel about a young boy growing up in French colonized Tunisia. To gain access to privileged French society, he must reject his many identities – Jew, Arab, and African. But, on the eve of World War II, he is forced to come to terms with his loyalties and his past
654.
The Pink Line : The World's Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser EN
Country: Africa / 
South Africa
South Africa
Description:
The Pink Line tells the story of how 'LGBT Rights' became one of the world's new human rights frontiers in the second decade of the twenty-first century. From refugees in South Africa to activists in Egypt, transgender women in Russia and pen manaam konda aan (women's hearts in men's bodies) in Tamil Nadu, The Pink Line folds intimate and deeply affecting stories of individuals, families and communities into a definitive account of how the world has changed, so dramatically, in just a decade. And in doing so the book reveals a troubling new equation that has come in to play: while same-sex mar... continue
655.
AlgeriaDescription:
The Plague is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947, that tells the story from the point of view of an unknown narrator of a plague sweeping the French Algerian city of Oran. The novel presents a snapshot of life in Oran as seen through the author's distinctive absurdist point of view. The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, ... continue
656.
The Position of Spoons : And Other Intimacies by Deborah Levy EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
In The Position of Spoons, Deborah Levy invites the reader into the interiors of her world, sharing her most intimate thoughts and experiences, as she traces and measures her life against the backdrop of the literary and artistic muses that have shaped her. From Marguerite Duras to Colette and Ballard, and from Lee Miller to Francesca Woodman and Paula Rego, we can relish here the richness of their work and, in turn the richness of the author's own. Each page is a beautiful, tender composition of the questioning self- a portrait of Deborah Levy's writing life and intellectual vitality in all o... continue
657.
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
“The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama.” –The New York Times “Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence–‘the power of one’–can prevail.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives ... continue
658.
The Power of Women : A Doctor's Journey of Hope and Healing by Dr Dr Denis Mukwege EN
Country: Africa / 
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Democratic Republic of
Description:
Nobel laureate, world-renowned doctor and human rights activist, Dr Mukwege has dedicated his life to caring for victims of sexual violence. Over the past two decades living and working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he has stood up to soldiers and warlords and survived multiple assassination attempts, never swaying from his mission. In this book, Dr Mukwege interweaves his own story with the experiences of the women he has treated, the people he has worked with, and survivors of sexual violence whom he has met during his years of advocating for women's rights on the international st... continue
659.
The Price of Memory : After the Tsunami by Mildred Kiconco Barya EN
UgandaDescription:
The price of Memory is a collection of 63 poems. The poems in vivid imagery uncover what happens when the pleasurable thrill of being alive is lost in the pain that settles among the familiar and refuses to say goodbye, as in the poems 'Baggage' and 'Maybe.' The subject of memory, remembrance and forgetfulness resound throughout the collection, from the private nostalgic experiences in 'Wastelands, ' 'The Island, ' to the collective 'Africa re-disappointed, ' 'Borderless Africa, ' and 'Child of the Universe In this poetry, we witness what comes out of keeping dreams in trouser pockets ridden w... continue
660.
The Promise by Damon Galgut EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
WINNER OF THE 2021 BOOKER PRIZE A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE On her deathbed, Rachel Swart makes a promise to Salome, the family's Black maid. This promise will divide the family--especially her children: Anton, the golden boy; Astrid, whose beauty is her power; and the youngest, Amor, whose life is shaped by feelings of guilt. Reunited by four funerals over thirty years, the dwindling Swart family remains haunted by the unmet promise, just as their country is haunted by its own failures. The Promise is an epic South African drama that unfurls against the unrelenting march of history, sure... continue