Book picks similar to
Flamingo Feather: A Story of Africa (Collected Works of Laurens van der Post) by Laurens van der Post
africa
fiction
south-african
literature
The Traveler
Don Coldsmith - 1991
Now he is the Storyteller, weaving long-ago tales and trading as he traverses the lands of the People. Married to the beautiful Plum Leaf, the Storyteller sets out on the great adventure that will be his own life. He witnesses the changes the white men have brought--the taking of scalps, the preying of brother upon brother, the knives made of shiny, smooth metal. He journeys far and wide, to the land of the buffalo and to the heart of an enchanting young captive named Pale Star, who will be his shinning light and destiny in the dark days ahead. He is known by many names to those he meets in the wilderness: Storyteller, trader, Traveler--and one day he will become a legend as the half-man, half-spirit called the Watcher.
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Jules Verne - 1864
Professor Lidenbrock can't resist the opportunity to investigate, and with his nephew Axel, he sets off across Iceland in the company of Hans Bjelke, a native guide. The expedition descends into an extinct volcano toward a sunless sea, where they encounter a subterranean world of luminous rocks, antediluvian forests, and fantastic marine life — a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of human existence.
Say You're One of Them
Uwem Akpan - 2008
The eight-year-old narrator of "An Ex-Mas Feast" needs only enough money to buy books and pay fees in order to attend school. Even when his twelve-year-old sister takes to the streets to raise these meager funds, his dream can't be granted. Food comes first. His family lives in a street shanty in Nairobi, Kenya, but their way of both loving and taking advantage of each other strikes a universal chord. In the second of his stories published in a New Yorker special fiction issue, Akpan takes us far beyond what we thought we knew about the tribal conflict in Rwanda. The story is told by a young girl, who, with her little brother, witnesses the worst possible scenario between parents. They are asked to do the previously unimaginable in order to protect their children. This singular collection will also take the reader inside Nigeria, Benin, and Ethiopia, revealing in beautiful prose the harsh consequences for children of life in Africa. Akpan's voice is a literary miracle, rendering lives of almost unimaginable deprivation and terror into stories that are nothing short of transcendent.
Hornblower and His Majesty
C.S. Forester - 1940
For his first command after escaping from France, Hornblower is given charge of the royal yacht - and he soon requires all his skill and instinct to prevent disaster!
The Master of Ballantrae
Robert Louis Stevenson - 1889
The Master is about his infective influence—on his younger, less attractive brother Henry; on Henry's wife Alison; and on those narrators whom Stevenson so skilfully employs to present their experiences of this charming, ruthless, and evil man.
Lord Jim
Joseph Conrad - 1900
When the ship starts rapidly taking on water and disaster seems imminent, Jim joins his captain and other crew members in abandoning the ship and its passengers. A few days later, they are picked up by a British ship. However, the Patna and its passengers are later also saved, and the reprehensible actions of the crew are exposed. The other participants evade the judicial court of inquiry, leaving Jim to the court alone. He is publicly censured for this action and the novel follows his later attempts at coming to terms with his past. The novel is counted as one of 100 best books of the 20th century.Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), was a Polish author who wrote in English after settling in England. Conrad is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in English, though he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties. He wrote stories and novels, often with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of an indifferent world. He was a master prose stylist who brought a distinctly non-English tragic sensibility into English literature.Contents: Lord JimMemoirs & Letters:A Personal Record; or Some ReminiscencesThe Mirror of the SeaNotes on Life & LettersBiography & Critical Essays:Joseph Conrad (A Biography) by Hugh WalpoleJoseph Conrad by John Albert MacyA Conrad Miscellany by John Albert MacyJoseph Conrad by Virginia Woolf
Far Horizon
Tony Park - 2005
But just a year ago, the former Australian Army officer had endured the brutal death of his girlfriend at the hands of ivory hunters in Mozambique.Now the South African Police are on the murderers' trail and need Mike's help. But he has a truckload of tourists who have no idea what has been asked of him . . . although one passenger has her suspicions.Following a chase through some of Africa's most spectacular locations, Mike gets his shot at revenge . . . but at what cost?"
English Passengers
Matthew Kneale - 2000
The only takers are two eccentric Englishmen who want to embark for the other side of the globe. The Reverend Geoffrey Wilson believes the Garden of Eden was on the island of Tasmania. His traveling partner, Dr. Thomas Potter, unbeknownst to Wilson, is developing a sinister thesis about the races of men. Meanwhile, an aboriginal in Tasmania named Peevay recounts his people’s struggles against the invading British, a story that begins in 1824, moves into the present with approach of the English passengers in 1857, and extends into the future in 1870. These characters and many others come together in a storm of voices that vividly bring a past age to life.
Green Hills of Africa
Ernest Hemingway - 1935
Hemingway's well-known interest in - and fascination with - big-game hunting is magnificently captured in this evocative account of his trip. It is an examination of the lure of the hunt and an impassioned portrait of the glory of the African landscape and of the beauty of a wilderness that was, even then, being threatened by the incursions of man.
Onion Tears
Shubnum Khan - 2011
Khadeejah Bibi Ballim is a hard-working and stubborn first generation Indian who longs for her beloved homeland and often questions what she is doing on the tip of Africa. At thirty-seven, her daughter Summaya is struggling to reconcile her South African and Indian identities, while Summaya's own daughter, eleven-year old Aneesa, is a girl who has some difficult questions of her own. Is her mother lying to her about her father's death? Why won't she tell her what really happened? Gradually, the past merges with the present as the novel meanders through their lives, uncovering the secrets people keep, the words they swallow and the emotions they elect to mute. For this family, faintly detectable through the sharp spicy aromas that find their way out of Khadeejah's kitchen, the scent of tragedy is always threatening. Eventually it will bring this family together. If not, it will tear them apart.
Tears Of The Maasai
Frank Coates - 2004
After a bizarre mishap Jack Morgan takes up a UN posting in Kenya, hoping to find obscurity on the streets of Nairobi. there he is befriended by the American 'Bear' Hoffman, a man equally at home in the city's racy nightlife as in the Kenyan bush. Jack's hopes for seclusion are soon dashed as he is seduced by the excitement of Africa and by a beautiful Maasai woman named Malaika. Malaika carries a dark secret, and when a warrior returns from her past, she and Jack are plunged into a world of ancient spiritualism and tribal curses. Caught at the centre of a gathering storm, they must fight for the survival of their love... Rich in historical details, tears of the Maasai follows Jack on a flight from truth, and a Maasai family's journey through time, from warrior supremacy to the colour and drama of modern-day Kenya. 'remarkable... adventuresome... suffused with tenderness' Australian Book Review
The Sheltering Sky
Paul Bowles - 1949
The story of three American travelers adrift in the cities and deserts of North Africa, The Sheltering Sky is at once merciless and heartbreaking in its compassion. It etches the limits of human reason and intelligence--perhaps even the limits of human life --when they touch the unfathomable emptiness and impassive cruelty of the desert.
Beyond the Wild River
Sarah Maine - 2017
Evelyn has always done her duty as a daughter, hiding her boredom and resentment behind good manners—so when an innocent friendship with a servant is misinterpreted by her father as an illicit union, Evelyn is appalled. Yet the consequence is a welcome one: she is to accompany her father on a trip to North America, where they’ll visit New York City, the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, and conclude with a fishing expedition on the Nipigon River in Canada. Now is her chance to escape her cloistered life, see the world, and reconnect with her father. Once they’re on the Nipigon, however, Evelyn is shocked to discover that their guide is James Douglas, the former stable hand and her one-time friend who disappeared from the estate after the shootings of a poacher and a gamekeeper. Many had assumed that James had been responsible, but Evelyn never could believe it. Now, in the wilds of a new world, far from the constraints of polite society, the truth about that day, James, and her father will be revealed…to stunning consequences.