Along the streets of Manhattan, a young Nigerian doctor doing his residency wanders aimlessly. The walks meet a need for Julius: they are a release from the tightly regulated mental environment of work, and they give him the opportunity to process his relationships, his recent breakup with his girlfriend, his present, his past.

There is so much that Alice Walker’s The Colour Purple gives a reader to reflect on. Celie’s difficult life which is uncovered throughout the novel exposes her rape and bearing of children from her stepfather at a young age. Married to a man “Mr.”

The story of two interweaving narratives told by Saleh Omar and Latif Mahmud who find themselves meeting thirty five years later in Gatwick England can enthral and take the reader into the world in which the characters exist. The once prosperous Omar who owned a furniture shop in Zanzibar now finds himself living the life of a refugee in Gatwick.

Take coffee, now, Auntie Mavis said, early, early morning coffee, or something like ginger root or Spanish onion or honey-leaf tobacco or stand-pipe jasmine! Directly , you see, that is the intentional smell of things.

Once upon a time, Anancy, feeling very greedy for power and wealth decided to collect all the commonsense there was in the world. He thought that everyone would then have to come to him with their problems and he would charge dear for his advice. So, he set out to collect all the commonsense in the world.

The enthralling storyline of Under the Frangipani kept me turning the pages wanting to find out what is next. Mia Couto’s idea of intertwining African traditions within the western world is brilliant, for in the novel the African world is exposed to us by the spirit Ermelindo Mucanga who returns from the dead and resides in a police inspector, Izidine Naíta who is investigating a murder.

In 2013, we’ve read and enjoyed a clutch of new faces as well as some fascinating not-so-new ones. Here’s our breakdown of the best in African literature 2013. So for something inspiring and hard to put down try one of these reads. A selection of books available on Amazon.com. Enjoy!

Out of Africa with her degree and her all-seeing eyes comes Sissie. She comes to Europe, to a land of towering mountains and low grey skies and tries to make sense of it all. What is she doing here? Why aren't the natives friendly? And what will she do when she goes back home?