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Summer Escape: Best Books Set in Africa
Take an incredible trip (or three) this summer without leaving your couch.
Published on June 16, 2023
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
William KamkwambaMALAWI: This heartwarming story is about so much more than the sustainability of the environment — it’s about modernizing and bringing together a community that others have written off. William Kamkwamba’s quest to build a windmill for his small town in southeastern Africa will surely inspire you.
Tangerine
Christine ManganMOROCCO: Sit back, sip some mint tea, and relax with a good thriller set in the seductive chaos of 1950s Tangier. This is a juicy novel, and that’s not just a pun about its title. A cinematic debut (George Clooney and Scarlett Johansson are involved in producing a movie adaptation), “Tangerine” is a Hitchcockian tale of obsession filled with bustling medinas and unreliable narrators.
A Grain of Wheat
Ngugi wa Thiong'oKENYA: Visiting Africa in 2018, former President Barack Obama shared his reading recommendations, which included some of “Africa’s best writers and thinkers.” Obama suggested “A Grain of Wheat,” describing the novel in his Facebook post as: “A chronicle of the events leading up to Kenya’s independence, and a compelling story of how the transformative events of history weigh on individual lives and relationships.”
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara KingsolverTHE CONGO: Barbara Kingsolver’s tour de force about the Price family uprooting their lives and moving from Georgia to the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in the late 1950s tackles an incredible amount of issues — both political and personal, spiritual and secular — with grace and ease. Amy Adams is producing a miniseries adaptation of “The Poisonwood Bible” for HBO.
Cry, the Beloved Country
Alan PatonSOUTH AFRICA: Lauded as one of the most important novels in the country’s history, “Cry, The Beloved Country” is the moving story of a Zulu father’s search for his son set against the backdrop of a country roiling with racial injustice.
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown
Paul TherouxACROSS AFRICA: Paul Theroux is one of the best (and most controversial and cranky) American travel writers of our time, and he covers a lot of ground in this account of his journey through Africa, from Egypt to South Africa. Cutting cynicism resides next to glowing hope.
Tram 83
Fiston Mwanza MujilaUNNAMED AFRICAN COUNTRY: Set during Africa’s modern gold rush in an unnamed, war-torn mining town, two friends (a writer and a racketeer) reunite at the most notorious nightclub in town. Bursting with smugglers and gamblers, musicians and freedom fighters, the Tram 83 attracts disreputable profit-seekers from around the world. Edgy and atmospheric, Congolese author Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s novel is a gritty gem.
Freshwater
Akwaeke EmeziNIGERIA TO USA: Surreal and enthralling, Akwaeke Emezi’s fictionalized autobiography immerses readers in the mind of Ada, a young Nigerian woman, as her sense of self splinters into multiple, conflicting spirits. As Ada grows up and moves to America to attend college, the spirits grow more controlling with devastating consequences for Ada’s relationships. Emezi’s debut is a powerful and poetic portrait of mental illness rooted in the Igbo cosmology of Nigeria.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Alexander McCall SmithBOTSWANA: Tag along with the country’s only female detective, Mma “Precious” Ramotswe. In her spunky adventures, the PI solves everything from wandering husbands to the case of a missing boy. The first in a long-running series, this novel (and the people and land it depicts) will charm it’s way into your heart.
Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
Agatha ChristieEGYPT: There’s no escape like an Agatha Christie mystery, and “Death on the Nile” is considered one of her finest. Written while she was staying in Aswan, an Egyptian city on the river, the story’s steeped in local sights. When a rich socialite is found murdered on a luxury cruise ship, detective Hercule Poirot’s on the case to catch the killer.