Tomi Obaro | Nigeria I have two friends from Trinidad, Andrea and Jackie, who I’ve known since we were five. We lost touch during our teenage years and reconnected in our 30s and have been regularly in touch ever since. It’s grown into the type of friendship where we share laughs, our pet peeves, craziness…
Category: African Lit
Hope and Glory
Jendella Benson | Nigeria A young woman named Glory has returned home to the UK for her father’s funeral. She’s very insecure about her past choices that took her to Los Angeles, and this insecurity manifests itself in periodic bouts of anxiety. Returning has opened her eyes to the realization that her family is fractured…
Wife Of The Gods
Kwie Quartey | Ghana Ever since I read Jacob Ross’ The Bone Readers that introduced me to crime fiction set in the Caribbean, with an authentic setting, characters, and story line, I’ve been on the lookout for an equally thrilling crime fiction series set in Africa. I recently discovered Ghanaian-American writer, Dr. Kwei Quartey’s (yes,…
Nearly All The Men In Lagos Are Mad
Damilare Kuku | Nigeria What would you do if your husband urged you to sleep with another man for money? Not prostitution, mind you, but be intimate with an admirer? No? What about join a wives’ club where the husbands are in the closet? Not your cup of tea? Well then you surely would be…
Accra Noir
Edited by Nana-Ama Danquah |Ghana Thirteen stories exploring the underprivileged, unscrupulous, the disadvantaged, and the taboo in Accra, adding the Ghanaian perspective to the Noir series. The themes in this book are boldly explored, from the lives of sex workers, fixers, and some scary underworld dealers, it’s an unflinching look at the underbelly parts of…
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Oyinkan Braithwaite | Nigeria How far would you go in your loyalty to your sister? This title completely stumped me, and then I started reading and from the first paragraph I realized, “this shit is serious!” Korede is a nurse in Nigeria and has made it her life’s mission to clean up and cover up…
His Only Wife
Peace Adzo Medie | Ghana Conflicting gender norms. These three words is all that is needed to sum up this entertaining yet maddening book about a young woman who marries a man in absentia! Afi has been chosen by a wealthy woman in her village to be the wife of her son Elikem, who currently…
In the Palace of Flowers
Victoria Princewill | British In the Palace Of Flowers the court of the shah of Tehran is a vindictive place and consequently a dangerous place to be a slave. You are indispensable, ignored, a pariah. A person not seen as a person and who can be abused at the will of others. But there are…
Butter Honey Pig Bread
Francesca Ekwuyasi | Nigeria Call me superficial, but both the title and the cover of this book are so intriguing and eye-catching, I know for a fact I would have picked this up from a bookstore stack, had this book not been recommended to me by a bookstagrammer. The Ogbanje concept, which I first read…
Born a Crime
Trevor Noah | South Africa Page one of Trevor Noah’s book opens with the South African Immorality Act of 1927, which states the penalties for men and women of different races who have sex with each other. “To prohibit illicit carnal intercourse between Europeans and natives and other acts in relation thereto,” it states. Noah…
Here We Read For Fun 