• Victims of Circumstance

    Victims of Circumstance is based on the Igbo cultural practice of Osu Caste system. In the course of the narrative, the descendants of Ezeako automatically become Osu-outcasts-following the sacrifice of their father, Ezeako, to an oracle of Ogwugwu.

    Having assumed this status, the Ezeako children who have now become a village (Umuezeako) are no longer treated as free citizens but rather as social outcasts.

    This discrimination culminates in the collapse of the relationship between Ego and Nduka.

  • We Won’t Budge

    Part autobiographical, part social commentary, this is a powerful and insightful look at the situation of border intellectuals at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

    In this searing memoir, Manthia Diawara revisits his early years as an emigrant in love with Swedish girls and Western rock and roll music, taking us from the nightclubs of his hometown Bamako to the cafes of Boulevard Montparnasse and the black neighbourhoods of 1970s Washington DC, USA.

    This book is about the developed world – that is the former colonisers of the African continent now busy slamming shut its doors to African and Arab immigrants.

    It is also about human rights violations and racism against people of colour. Diawara writes that he wanted to give a human face to African immigration in today’s global world. He describes the reasons why many Africans leave the continent – such as poverty, persecution and lack of opportunities – and writes sometimes angrily and sometimes very movingly, about their predicament in Europe and the US, where they are caught between their traditions and the West’s vacuous modernity.

    “With humour and the intimacy of a conversatonal tone, Diawara writes of the ‘global’ African as a nomad at the mercy of whirlwinds of economic and political dislocation at home and racism and intolerance abroad. He is not at home in his country; he is not at home abroad. But the nomad refuses to bow down to those whirlwinds, to let evil turn him around, and against all the odds becomes an active contributor to the multiculture of the globe. This is the story of a diasporic soul that finds home in its own resilience and in so may ways it is all our story.” – Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Author of A Grain of Wheat et al)

    “We Won’t Budge is destined to become a classic – it is one of the most insightful, layered and moving accounts of the modern African Diaspora.” – Patricia Williams (Author of The Alchemy of Race & Rights et al)

  • Well Done, Abena

    “Well done, Abena” says her father, mother and class teacher.

    What has Abena done, that everybody says “Well done!”

    Abena lived with her parents and two best friends: Lion King and White Beauty.

    Her friends loved her very much and she loved them too.

    Abena was a brillant and hardworking girl.

    Was Abena able to sing when her Sunday school teacher asked her to sing?

    She came from church and her father also asked her to sing.

    Guess what happened!

  • What The Future Holds (Pacesetters)

    What the Future Holds follows the life of Lobenguni “Kiki” Mkhatshwa, a young Swazi woman of Nguni descent who, at the beginning of the novel, has brought her baby into town to confront the child’s father, Menzi Dlamini (Dlamini is a common Swazi clan name), at his place of work, in order to ensure that he pays child support.

    We then flash back to 1961, before Kiki was born, and meet her mother, LaMsibi, and father, Gezani, who struggle to make a life for themselves as farmers in a small village in the Maphakane valley. Gezani is determined to ensure that his child has a better life than he has so he decides to have her educated. Gezani is a traditional Nguni who does not approve of Christianity and the foreign missionaries who bring it. However, he does appreciate the need for Swazi children to be able to read and write, and only missionary schools provide this education. Despite having convinced his father to disown her twenty years earlier when she converted to Christianity, Gezani seeks out his sister, Saraphina, a teacher at a missionary school, and asks that she takes in Kiki and sends her to school. Gezani then decides to leave his homestead and go back to working in the mines of Johannesburg in order to pay for Kiki’s education.

  • When Mother Left: An Anthology

    Elizabeth’s mother left the family never to return. Suffering under the heavy hands of her father, she wondered why life was so bitter for her until her grandmother visited them.

    “Now you are old enough to understand it,” said grandmother. “Your father is treating you this way because of what your mother did to him!”

    What did her mother do, and how did that affect innocent Elizabeth and the family?

    ****

    Until Sammy changed his attitude in a very strange way, he and Oppong were closer than brothers.

    Now what has come over Sammy? Where from these deadly intentions? After the sudden turn of events, Oppong has to bear the pain of losing his bosom friend and strive to adjust to his new way of life. Years later, Sammy returned from the unknown seeking to be pardoned, but how delayed was the pardon?

    ***

    These stories and other stories in this book will give you a better understanding and appreciation of some of the little things, that make life worth living. Enjoy the reading!

  • Wuthering Heights (Great Stories in Easy English)

    Wuthering Heights is one of the most famous love stories in the English language. It is also, as the Introduction to this edition reveals, one of the most potent revenge narratives. Its ingenious narrative structure, vivid evocation of landscape, and the extraordinary power of its depiction of love and hatred have given it a unique place in English literature. The passionate tale of Catherine and Heathcliff is here presented in a new edition that examines the qualities that make it such a powerful and compelling novel. The Introduction by Helen Small sheds light on the novel’s oddness and power, its amorality and Romantic influences, its structure and narration, and the sadistic violence embodied in the character of Heathcliff.

  • Wuthering Heights (Oxford World Classics)

    Wuthering Heights is one of the most famous love stories in the English language. It is also, as the Introduction to this edition reveals, one of the most potent revenge narratives. Its ingenious narrative structure, vivid evocation of landscape, and the extraordinary power of its depiction of love and hatred have given it a unique place in English literature. The passionate tale of Catherine and Heathcliff is here presented in a new edition that examines the qualities that make it such a powerful and compelling novel. The Introduction by Helen Small sheds light on the novel’s oddness and power, its amorality and Romantic influences, its structure and narration, and the sadistic violence embodied in the character of Heathcliff.

    The volume retains the authoritative Clarendon text and notes, with new notes that identify literary allusions hitherto unnoticed. In addition, the edition boasts two appendices, one of which contains poems by Emily Brontë selected for their relevance to the novel, and a second which contains Charlotte Brontë’s “Biographical Notice of Ellis & Acton Bell” and “Preface to the New Edition.”

    About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World’s Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford’s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

  • Yaa Mansa: Victim of Beauty (Great Minds Series)

    Age Range: 8 – 12 years

    Beauty, they say, lies in the eyes of the beholder, but Yaa Mansa’s beauty was so glaring that even the meanest person could not help but steal a second glance at her.

    The most captivating of it all was her mesmerizing smile that stupefied men.

    Due to the unceasing ogling from lustful men here and there, Yaa Mansa realized that she was really sought for by men and that some men were even prepared to kill in order to have her. She, as a result, thought she could use her beauty to exploit them to get all that she wanted. At what cost does Yaa Mansa achieve her aim?

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