Just exactly how did pre-colonial Africa develop the world is the question historian and former New York Times journalist Howard W. French sets out to answer in this captivating, revelatory read that dismantles widely but erroneously held beliefs about the continent's relevance and influence prior to the arrival of Europeans and thereafter.
Read MoreIn Åkerström's engaging, fast-paced debut novel, the weight of blackness threads the lives of three women who wind up in Stockholm under the influence of Jonny von Lundin, scion of a highborn family with close ties to Sweden's monarchy.
Read MoreHere, a list of five fiction and non-fiction books to illuminate your mind, tickle your curiosity and expand your understanding of the world.
Read MoreAbortion, family honour and liberation take centre stage in this novel that follows the titular teenage protagonist as she struggles to still herself against the buffeting tide of marital and societal expectations.
Read MoreAbsurd and reflective, Adichie's short story imagines a matriarchy where men take on subordinate roles.
Read MoreEach of the book's nine self-contained essays seeks to redefine concepts ranging from power to womanhood to liberation through a feminist lens.
Read MorePublished in 1966, the novel follows the eponymous protagonist as she and other female characters bend, twist, implement and break gender norms in colonial Nigeria.
Read MoreWhitefly follows Detective Laafrit’s investigation into the deaths of four young men found floating in the Mediterranean. The dead are irregular Moroccan migrants en route to neighbouring Spain, or at least that’s what Laafrit thinks until he discovers one of them was shot four times at close range.
Read MoreIn Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, each character contends with a violent dictatorship, with none emerging guiltless or unscathed. Set in Addis Ababa in the mid-seventies, Maaza Mengiste’s debut novel gives a glimpse into the surveillance state perpetuated by Mengistu Haile Mariam’s military regime, which deposed Emperor Haile Selassie and effectively ended Ethiopia’s three-thousand year-old monarchy.
Read More
