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Voices Made Night (African Writers Series)
In this collection of stories, the Mozambican poet, Mia Couto, expresses, through striking poetic metaphors, the emptiness and absurdity of lives bound by poverty and subject to arbitrary incursions of extreme violence. The frustrated longing of the lipless snake catcher who surrounds his lady’s house with snakes; or the man who fears his wife is a witch and scalds her with boiling water, are caught in dual tension. In Voices Made Night, an African cosmology portrays a surreal world defined by its contradictions, set against a background of political instability.₵45.00 -
When Rain Clouds Gather (African Writers Series, AWS247)
In the heart of rural Botswana, the poverty stricken village of Golema Mmidi is a haven to exiles from far and wide. A South African political refugee and an Englishman join forces to revolutionise the villagers traditional farming methods, but their task is fraught with hazards as the pressures of tradition, opposition from the local chief and the unrelenting climate threaten to divide and devastate the fragile community.₵45.00 -
Harvest of Thorns (African Writers Series)
The revolution that ended white minority rule in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) is seen here chiefly through the eyes of Benjamin Tichafa, a young guerrilla. He is the son of a devoutly religious couple, his father a government messenger completely subservient to his white superiors. Enraged by the treatment of blacks, a teenage Benjamin turns from his parents’ apolitical religion. After being arrested in a demonstration, he joins the revolution.
The novel is enriched by the viewpoints of black Rhodesians who, out of fear or for economic reasons, do not fully support the struggle. The slaying of a dictatorial white farm owner dismays his foreman, whose livelihood is now threatened. The fatal beating of a woman who reluctantly informed on the guerrillas raises misgivings in Benjamin’s outfit. Though ultimately portraying the victory as worthwhile, Chinodya also shows the price paid in lives, tattered families and lost traditions. The result is a humane and penetrating look at a brutal government and a bloody revolution.
Harvest of Thorns is a novel of great significance which will give all those who read it a greater understanding of the road along which Zimbabwe has travelled, as well as indicate many of the directions ahead.
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Equiano’s Travels (African Writers Series, AWS10)
Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in a village east of the Niger River in what is now Nigeria. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African was published in London in 1789. This is his own account of a remarkable life.
At the age of ten he was captured by slave traders and taken to the southern states of America. He was sold to a planter in the West Indies and worked there and abroad slave ships sailing between the Caribbean and England. At the age of twenty-one he had saved enough money to buy his freedom. He visited the Mediterranean, took part in Phipps’ expedition to the Arctic in 1773 and crossed the Atlantic several times. He was an ardent member of the Movement for the Abolition of Slavery and was appointed Commissary for Stores when the freed slaves were settled in Sierra Leone.
This abridged edition has a new introduction by Professor Ogude of the University of Benin, together with explanatory notes on the text.
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A Question of Power (African Writers Series, AWS149)
“Your mother was insane. If you’re not careful you’ll get insane just like your mother. Your mother was a white woman. They had to lock her up, as she was having a child by the stable boy who was a native.”
It is never clear to Elizabeth whether the mission school principal’s cruel revelation of her origins is at the bottom of her mental breakdown. She has left South Africa with her son and is living in the village of Motabeng, the place of sand, in Botswana where there are no street lights at night. In the darkness of this country where people turn and look at her with vague curiosity as an outsider she establishes an entirely abnormal relationship with two men. A mind-bending book which takes the reader in and out of sanity.
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Against the Odds: A Novel
Young Kwaku Obeng, falsely accused of a crime, comes to Accra to seek his fortune and find a means of clearing his name.
Homeless and penniless, virtually alone in the world, he strives against the odds in a world that owes him no favours. Will he be able to achieve his dream of becoming a medical doctor? Will his tarnished image be restored?
Will he ever be able to go home again?
₵40.00Against the Odds: A Novel
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The Hunt
Sackey and Nyarko had always pitched their wits against each other. When Nyarko beat Sackey at a quiz competition, Sackey sought a way of proving that he was better than his rival. The opportunity came in a quest to find the emerald stool of the Krobos. The two rivals, with their friends, set out to the first to discover this ancient stool separately. Even more, unknowing to them, Sackey and Nyarko were related.
₵40.00The Hunt
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Between Wars
In a single twist of war, two sister, Enkaakye and Timaa, find their lives turned upside down. Enkaakye resiliently waits for the return from war of the one she loves. Timaa chooses to give up hope and patience, and move on with her life. The sisters’ choices lead to consequences that threaten their bond of sisterhood to its core.
As war drums begin to beat in their community once more, will their relationship survive the imminent danger?
Between Wars is a heartwarming story of love, loss, family, and friendship. Above all, it shows how wisdom and courage can be found in the most unexpected of places.
₵40.00Between Wars
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Faceless
Street life in the slums of Accra is realistically portrayed in this socially-commited, subtle novel about four educated women who are inspired by the plight of a 14-year old girl, Fofo. As the main characters convert their library center into a practical street initiative, the novel invokes the squalor, health risks, and vicious cycles of poverty and violence that drive children to the streets and women to prostitution; and, from which, ultimately, no one in the society is free.
₵45.00Faceless
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The Joys of Motherhood (African Writers Series, AWS227)
The fourth novel from the Nigerian-born writer, Buchi Emecheta, The Joys of Motherhood is recognised as one of Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century in an initiative organised by the Zimbabwean International Book Fair.
First published in 1979, The Joys of Motherhood is the story of Nnu Ego, a Nigerian woman struggling in a patriarchal society. Unable to conceive in her first marriage, Nnu is banished to Lagos where she succeeds in becoming a mother. Then, against the backdrop of World War II, Nnu must fiercely protect herself and her children when she is abandoned by her husband and her people.
The Joys of Motherhood is a powerful commentary on polygamy, patriarchy and women’s changing roles in urban Nigeria.
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Broken Sunset
Joey has grown up under the shadow of his mother Halle Nelson and father Isaac Bloom who is given to drinking and sleeping around and doesn’t mould himself into the conventions expected of fatherhood.
But as Joey grows up, his perseverance and optimism changed the narrative. He falls in love with a girl in high school but struggles to make his feelings known, thereby his decision to start from the friends’ zone with giant hopes of reaching his quest.
In the second part of the book, the story is retold in a charming light. It is no more a flashback but instead a gentle melancholy and a complex love affair in the 21st century.
The sunset meant to ignite coolness is broken.
The sunset meant to bring togetherness is broken.
The sunset meant to summon love is broken.
₵25.00Broken Sunset
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A Man for all Seasons
This remarkable novel touches on the forces that rule the destiny of individuals and nations, and reveals an answer to the existential questions: Why do good people suffer? What can we do to attain a problem-free life?
Thus, we see Ikenna, a university graduate who is hounded and persecuted by the high and mighty, Alex and Max who in turn face their own tribulations in the hands of invisible enemies. In the end, power fails, wealth fails but in love and humility we find redeeming virtues.
₵18.00A Man for all Seasons
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The Hidden Star
Nolitye lives in a shack with her mother Thembi in Phola, a dusty township on the edge of Johannesburg. She is good at maths and likes collecting stones, which she places in a bucket under her bed. She also has unusual powers: she can communicate with dogs. Nolitye has two close friends, Bheki, who is overweight, and the bespectacled Four Eyes, who join with her to resist the bullying from Rotten Nellie and her gang of Spoilers.
One day, Nolitye finds a special stone that has the power to make people feel happy and laugh. Her mission from now on is to gather together the other pieces of the stone and reunite them, to stop darkness from taking control of her world.
₵115.00The Hidden Star
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Sunny and the Mysteries of Osisi (Sunny’s Adventures #2)
Sunny Nwazue is back in this gripping sequel to Nnedi Okorafor’s What Sunny Saw in the Flames.
Sunny has settled into life at the Leopard Society, with friends Orlu, Chichi and Sasha. Her magic powers continue to grow under the tutelage of her mentor Sugar Cream, as Sunny studies her strange Nsidi book and begins to understand her spirit face, Anyanwu. But Sunny cannot escape from her destiny, and she soon finds she must travel to the shadowy town of Osisi. The journey is fraught with danger, taking Sunny through unseen worlds, and awaiting her is a battle to determine humanity’s fate.
Sunny & The Mysteries of Osisi is a compelling tale combining culture, fantasy, history and magic.
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Grief Child
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, Africa
It was midnight. The little village of Susa slept in darkness in the heart of the forest farms, among the tall trees. The mahoganies and sapeles stood tall in the dark sky, providing a canopy over the village and deepening the density of the pitch-dark night. From a distant cluster of neighboring villages, Adu heard a dog bark. Another dog howled. In this village midnight was a dangerous time. It was better not to be awake or hear noises….
In this haunting tale the power of light struggles with the power of darkness to claim the life of Adu, the “grief child”.
₵35.00Grief Child
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