Unequal society, where a few who are close to the corridors of power pocket national wealth and flagrantly display ill-gotten affluence, drives a youth to unbridled quest for a piece of the action. Trapped in poverty, Chigazu ultimately ends up in self destruction, adding to the ever-fl owing tears of his mother, Nkiru, whose moral standard fuelled rather than abated the situation. The Detective Python is an intriguing and suspense-laden story of vices and tragedies in a contemporary Afric...

A strange protest triggers a descent into paranoia and chaos in this "illuminating parable"—a sequel to the Nobel Prize-winning author's Blindness (Ursula K. Le Guin, The Guardian, UK).On election day in the capital, it is raining so hard that no one has bothered to come out to vote. The politicians are growing jittery. Should they reschedule the elections for another day? Around three o'clock, the rain finally stops. Voters promptly rush to the p...

The acclaimed author of To Sir, With Love recalls his lifelong struggle against ignorance and racism while sharing a train ride with a bigoted white neighborOn a commuter train traveling from New Canaan, Connecticut, to New York's Grand Central Station, a well-heeled white suburbanite reluctantly takes the only available seat and eventually strikes up a conversation with the black man sitting next to him. The white businessman's verbal barrage of insensitiv...

The great Kenyan writer and Nobel Prize nominee’s novel that he wrote in secret, on toilet paper, while in prison—featuring an introduction by Namwali Serpell, the author of the multiple prize–winning novel The Old Drift and the nationally bestselling work of criticism On MorrisonOne of the cornerstones of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s fame, Devil on the Cross is a powerful fictional critique of capitalism. It tells the tragic story of Wariinga, a ...

After twelve years of missionary work in the northeast province of what was the Belgian Congo, building up a simple medical service, civil war erupted with horrific effects. During the war Helen was brutally beaten and raped and left with no choice but to return to Britain (this story is told in Give me this Mountain'). She quickly returned to the Congo in 1966 to assist in the rebuilding of the nation. She helped establish a new medical school and hospital (for the other hospitals that she b...

On a freezing winter’s night, a few hours before dawn on May 12, 1969, South African security police stormed the Soweto home of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, activist and wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela, and arrested her in the presence of her two young daughters, then aged nine and ten.Rounded up in a group of other antiapartheid activists under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act, designed for the security police to hold and interrogate people for as long as they wanted, she was ta...

Most of the antipodean beachcombers were heavy drinkers. It was a way of life with them. An Australian trader consulted me one day because of a serious drink problem he had.‘I only had ten cans yesterday, doc,’ he said. ‘And today I haven’t had any. I just don’t feel like it. Today’s the first day in ten years I haven’t had a drink.’I looked at him. He was yellow; he had hepatitis.‘Well,’ I said, ‘you’ve got hepatitis. That’s why you don’t want to drink. What’s more, y...

Sacrifice is a term of the past, not of today. Today, no one is expected to sacrifice anything. We are surrounded by game shows that give you riches if you answer a few questions on general knowledge or guess the right box to open. The unspoken spirit of the age is 'if something is difficult, do something else instead. If something is expensive, borrow it or borrow the money to buy it'. What place does 'sacrifice' have in this world? The Bible says it is central - and that sacrifice is not on...

As a teenager Fred Khumalo greeted his friends with a handshake and the words 'touch my blood'. It implied friendship and trust. The saying became his name. More than that, it became the way he viewed his world. Everything touched Fred Khumalo. Twice he was bewitched. Twice his father - the 'moegoe', the 'country bumpkin' - took him to inyangas to have the 'demons' banished. Twice his mother - the 'city girl' - took him to the doctor to have the 'fevers' cured. When the American Dudes beca...

Can loving parents turn around the life of a wayward teenager? What price do we pay for helping a stranger? How far can a drug addict go to get his fix, and is there anything a mother can do to stop him? What does it take to change the life of a thug? Can HIV stand in the way of a seasoned criminal? Countless men deal with abusive spouses in their homes...and bottle it up. Is there a remedy for a woman who abuses her husband? Can going through a cleansing program curb abusive women's anger...

'Her life and her death remain a beacon to all who love liberty' NELSON MANDELAAn unforgettable account of defiance against political terror by one of South Africa's pioneering anti-apartheid activists.'In prison you see only the moves of the enemy. Prison is the hardest place to fight a battle.'117 Days is Ruth First's personal account of her detention under the iniquitous '90-day' law of 1963. There was no warrant, no charge and no trial ...

The book highlights the problems and challenges encountered by disabled people especially the blind in their endeavour to climb the social ladder. It is a portrayal of the negative attitude among the public at large towards disability. Society associates disabled people with failure and under achievement which is of course untrue. The book is indeed an autobiography of the author himself as he struggled with social prejudices and marginalisation in country where there was scarcity of resou...