Popular African Historical Fiction Books
Find historical fiction books written by authors from Africa for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (157)
101.
The Angels Die by Yasmina Khadra EN
AlgeriaDescription:
"A writer who can understand man wherever he is."--The New York Times "Khadra's prose is gentle and precise."--The New Yorker As a child living in a ghetto, Turambo dreamt of a better future. When his family find a home in the city anything seems possible. Through a succession of menial jobs, the constants for Turambo are rage at the injustice surrounding him, and a reliable left hook. A boxing apprenticeship offers Turambo a choice. Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of the Algerian author Mohammed Moulessehoul. He is the author of more than twenty novels, including The Swallows of Kabul.
102.
The Automobile Club of Egypt by Alaa Al Aswany EN
EgyptDescription:
In British-occupied Egypt, on the eve of the 1952 revolution, respected landowner Abd el-Aziz Gaafar has fallen on hard times. Bankrupt, he moves his family to Cairo and takes a menial job at the Automobile Club, a luxurious lodge for its European members, where Egyptians appear only as fearful servants. When Abd el-Aziz’s pride gets the better of him and he stands up for himself, he is subjected to a corporal punishment that ultimately kills him—leaving two of his sons obliged to work in the Club. As the nation teeters on the brink of change, both servants and masters are subsumed by social u... continue
103.
The Country of Others by Leila Slimani EN
MoroccoDescription:
'A panoramic, ambitious tale.' The Times 'Exceptional.' Salman Rushdie 'Powerful.' Christine Mangan 'Captivating.' Elle 1944. After the Liberation, Mathilde leaves France to join her husband in Morocco. But life here is unrecognisable to this brave and passionate young woman. Her life is now that of a farmer's wife - with all the sacrifices and vexations that brings. Suffocated by the heat, by her loneliness on the farm and by the mistrust she inspires as a foreigner, Mathilde grows increasingly restless. As Morocco's struggle for independence intensifies, Mathilde and her husband find themsel... continue
104.
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese EN
EthiopiaDescription:
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial epic of love, faith, and medicine, set in Kerala, South India, and following three generations of a family seeking the answers to a strange secret The Covenant of Water is the long-awaited new novel by Abraham Verghese, the author of the major word-of-mouth bestseller Cutting for Stone, which has sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States alone and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years. Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on So... continue
105.
The Day the Leader Was Killed by Naguib Mahfouz EN
Description:
From the Nobel Prize laureate and author of the acclaimed Cairo Trilogy, a beguiling and artfully compact novel set in Sadat's Egypt. The time is 1981, Anwar al-Sadat is president, and Egypt is lurching into the modern world. Set against this backdrop, The Day the Leader Was Killed relates the tale of a middle-class Cairene family. Rich with irony and infused with political undertones, the story is narrated alternately by the pious and mischievous family patriarch Muhtashimi Zayed, his hapless grandson Elwan, and Elwan's headstrong and beautiful fiancee Randa. The novel reaches its climax with... continue
106.
The Death of Comrade President by ALAIN. MABANCKOU EN
CongoDescription:
In Pointe-Noire, in the small neighbourhood of Voungou, on the family plot where young Michel lives with Maman Pauline and Papa Roger, life goes on. But Michel's everyday cares - lost grocery money, the whims of his parents' moods, their neighbours' squabbling, his endless daydreaming - are soon swept away by the wind of history. In March 1977, just before the arrival of the short rainy season, Comrade President Marien Ngouabi is brutally murdered in Brazzaville, and not even naïve Michel can remain untouched. Starting as a tender, wry portrait of an ordinary Congolese family, Alain Mabanckou ... continue
107.
The Desert and the Drum by Mbarek Ould Beyrouk EN
Country: Africa / 
Mauritania
Mauritania
Description:
"The Desert and the Drum reveals a hidden Bedouin world and what happens when its values clash with those of contemporary urban life. It was awarded the Ahmadou-Kourouma Prize in 2016 and is the first novel from Mauritania to be translated into English. Everything changes for Rayhana when foreigners with strange machines arrive to mine for metal near her Bedouin camp. One of them is the enigmatic Yahya. Her association with him leads to Rayhana to abandon all that she has ever known and flee alone to the city. But when her tribe discover she has stolen their sacred drum, they pursue her to exa... continue
108.
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years : A Novel by Shubnum Khan EN
Country: Africa / 
South Africa
South Africa
Description:
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE "Rich and swoony...an ambitious delight, with rich characters and some exceptionally lovely writing...This is the start of a major career." -- The New York Times Book Review AN INDIE NEXT PICK A LIBRARY READS PICK “A dark and heady dream of a book” (Alix E. Harrow) about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Nearly a century later, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse f... continue
109.
The Epic of Askia Mohammed by Nouhou Malio EN
NigerDescription:
Askia Mohammed is the most famous leader in the history of the Songhay Empire, which reached its apogee during his reign in 1493-1528. Songhay, approximately halfway between the present-day cities of Timbuktu in Mali and Niamey in Niger, became a political force beginning in 1463, under the leadership of Sonni Ali Ber. By the time of his death in 1492, the foundation had been laid for the development under Askia Mohammed of a complex system of administration, a well-equipped army and navy, and a network of large government-owned farms. The present rendition of the epic was narrated by the grio... continue
110.
The Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenstrom EN
Country: Africa / South Africa
South Africa
Description:
A powerful fable originally published by Faber in 1983, translated by Nobel laureate and two-time Booker prize winner J. M. Coetzee.