adventure novels set in africa
On this reimagined globe a stream of sorry humanity flows from the West, from the slums of America and the squalor of Europe, to escape poverty and desperation in the prosperous United States of Africa. With astonishing empathy and the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves together the lives of three characters swept up in the turbulence of the decade. A passionate and deeply affecting record, The Dark Child is a classic of African literature. Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1912) – Arguably the most famous of all African adventures, this novel went on to spawn twenty-five sequels, numerous films, and even an Oscar-winning song. The source of Stuart’s grief is his most famous photo, a snapshot of brutality in the dangerous Congo. In 1750, Kintu Kidda unleashes a curse that will plague his family for generations. House M.E. 02/05/2016 12:39 pm ET Updated Dec 06, 2017 By Emma Volk | Off the Shelf. The apparently amoral Meursault, who puts little stock in ideas like love and God, seems to be on trial less for his murderous actions, and more for what the authorities believe is his deficient character. Their fortune threatened by shifting powers in Sudan and their heir’s debilitating accident, a powerful family under the leadership of Mahmoud Bey is torn between the traditional and modern values of Mahmoud’s two wives and his son’s efforts to break with cultural limits. In 1812, Francisco Manoel da Silva, escaping a life of poverty in Brazil, sailed to the African kingdom of Dahomey, determined to make his fortune in the slave trade. Five feet long, with luminescent eyes and limb like fins, this bizarre creature, presumed to be extinct, was discovered in 1938 by an amateur icthyologist who recognized it from fossils dating back 400 million years. Incorrect Book The list contains an incorrect book (please specify the title of the book). William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, a country where magic ruled and modern science was mystery. Please note: This post contains affiliate links. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods he and his younger brother, Seydou, can chop down in a day. The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary She’s drawn up a shortlist: Reuben, the fail safe; a long-admired school friend; abd Frederick Adams, the 42-year-old, soon-to-be-pot-bellied father of her best friend. Her fashionable mother is the queen of Tudu Court, but underneath the veneer of respectability that her father’s money provides lies a secret that threatens their whole world – the tall, elegant Totela Ponga is a drunk. The results of this casually taken decision are both tragic and compelling. Unbeknownst to Effia, her sister, Esi, is imprisoned beneath her in the castle’s dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast’s booming slave trade, and shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. My posts sometimes include Amazon affiliate links, but only when links are available for books I truly want to write about. Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE (22 June 1856 - 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. Written in a time when Africa seemed infinite and largely unexplored, at least from a Western point of view, Haggard’s classic adventure novel created the template still followed today—the Indiana Jones films, for one, owe a huge debt to Haggard. Then Deo begins to meet the strangers who will change his life, pointing him eventually in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing. Inappropriate The list (including its title or description) facilitates illegal activity, or contains hate speech or ad hominem attacks on a fellow Goodreads member or author. If you’re looking for more books set in Africa, check out these posts: These are just a few things I love using for reading and travel, which have special deals that I want to pass on to you! TRAVEL ADVENTURE BOOKS Blood River. Dear Strong Black Woman: Letters of Nourishment and Reflection from One Strong Black Woman to Another Jennifer Sterling. Her in-laws accuse her of being a wicked witch who sacrificed her husband and children to the dark forces. The lions and pythons that prowled beyond the village fences were the greatest threat they knew. Scared: A Novel On the Edge of the World by Tom Davis Stuart is given a one last chance to redeem his career: A make-or-break assignment covering the AIDS crisis in a small African country. The discovery was immediately dubbed the “greatest scientific find of the century,” but the excitement that ensued was even more incredible. Maybe. Welcome to Our Hillbrow: A Novel of Postapartheid South Africa (Modern African Writing Series) Phaswane Mpe. Pumpkin is nine years old. Here are a few that might not be too awful. LibraryThing is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers 3. This list of books set in Africa is a literary trip through the continent, bringing this part of the world to life and most certainly inspiring some wanderlust! Monique’s buoyant humor and willingness to defy tradition were uniquely hers. The first time I read it, I wasn’t entirely sure whether I was reading a dramatized account of true events or a work of fiction! The Wild Geese by Daniel Carney (1978) – Against a real backdrop of wars, coups, and political unrest, the 1970s saw a number of novels about mercenaries in Africa, the best known being Frederick Forsyth’s The Dogs of War. In 1947-48 the workers on the Dakar-Niger railway staged a strike. But then his mother dies unexpectedly and he finds himself alone in the world. I told stories constantly to them, all kinds.” Her account of her African adventures, written after she had lost her beloved farm and returned to Denmark, is that of a master storyteller, a woman whom John Updike called “one of the most picturesque and flamboyant literary personalities of the century.”. I would also recommend a Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandala and The Girl Who Smiled Beads. There is a mixture of fiction and memoirs, written by nationals and expats, that span topics such as colonial rule, conflict and migration alike. When the past catches up to him—nearly destroying him—Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him. Their reasons for going on the trip were twofold: “to collect and bring back alive some of the fascinating animals, birds, and reptiles that inhabit the region,” and secondly, for both men to realise a long cherished dream to see Africa. But in the face of overwhelming odds, Adanna finds hope in a special dream, where she is visited by an illuminated man and given a precious gift. As the civil war rages in 1980s Mozambique, an old man and a young boy, refugees from the war, seek shelter in a burnt-out bus. The Cloths of Heaven by Sue Eckstein, novel set in West Africa (the Gambia). I love that books can transport us, even from the comfort of home. He lives in Mauritius, a remote island in the Indian Ocean, where survival is a daily struggle for his family. As the boy reads the story to his elderly companion, this story and their own develop in tandem. In the course of this deeply personal narrative, as readers immerse themselves in the rhythms of West African village life, they come to know Monique as friend, mother, and inspired woman. Arguably the finest piece of magic realism ever written about South Africa. First published in 2009 – a first novel – The Cloths of Heaven is a definite winner… Sue Eckstein used to live in The Gambia and the book is about life in an unspecified West African country – not hard to guess which. Hooray! Jules Verne’s Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863), about the search for the source of the Nile, is certainly a contender. (shelved 5 times as books-set-in-africa) avg rating 4.31 — 115,439 ratings — published 2006 Zimbabwe Rhodesia is the major focus of My Stories of Africa as it is the place I know best. A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo by Peter Orner The problem is Amadou doesn’t know how much he and Seydou owe, and the bosses won’t tell him. Forced into an arranged marriage at age seventeen, Fauziya was told to prepare for kakia, the ritual also known as female genital mutilation. He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores. Aden, Yemen, 1935; a city vibrant, alive, and full of hidden dangers. To gain access to privileged French society, he must reject his many identities – Jew, Arab, and African. When Mavala Shikongo deserted them, the teachers at the boys’ school in Goas weren’t surprised. Ian McGuire's The North Water is a dark, brilliant, old-fashioned yarn set on a 19th-century Yorkshire whaler in the dead of winter. The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is the first novel in a series of seven about Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s first lady detective. Elsewhere in the hospital lies a dying man who was young during the country’s turbulent postcolonial years and has stories to tell that are far from heroic. Why did he lie? Overloaded Ark by Gerald Durrell A Very Good copy. Your email address will not be published. They battle cataracts, disease, and disaster to attack the German navy and, in the process, fall in love. One thread of Homegoing follows Effia’s descendants through centuries of warfare in Ghana, as the Fante and Asante nations wrestle with the slave trade and British colonization. Set in the fictional Ishmaelia, the plot features an inept journalist (Boot of the Beast) sent to cover an invasion of the country where he inadvertently gets the scoop of the title. More frequently than with other continents, books from Africa (especially folktales) aren’t contained within political borders. Thanks also for your recommendations, I must confess I’ve read half of Long Walk to Freedom – but have never quite gotten around to finishing it. He lives within his financial and emotional means. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles I am, therefore, opting for King Solomon’s Mines, about a group of explorers searching for a lost city in southern Africa. A Sunday At The Pool In Kigali by Gil Courtemanche Originally called The Thin White Line, it is a classic men-on-a-mission story, set around mineral rights in a thinly disguised Rhodesia. The best example of this breed of thriller is The Constant Gardener in which a British diplomat investigates the circumstances of his wife’s death in Kenya and is drawn into a conspiracy involving big pharma. Three paths. No one can enter the city, or leave. The refugee camps they eventually filtered through offered little respite from the brutality they were fleeing. . In the capital hospital, a gifted young surgeon is plagued by demons that are beginning to threaten his livelihood. 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