Nomaswazi


Busisekile Khumalo - 2019
    Forsaking the riches of her former life, she manages to build herself up from bartending to the respectable offices of a reputable law firm. Her tranquility is shattered when the same arrogant devil who almost drove her to suicide through his rejection, comes back into her life, claiming and marking her as his wife. Nomaswazi is forced to come back home a prodigal daughter when her father's health takes a turn for the worst. Her father had always cocooned her from the harsh truths of her birth but even he couldn't protect her from the revelations which await her in the rustic hills of Maphalaleni.

We Need New Names


NoViolet Bulawayo - 2013
    In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo's belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, before the school closed, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land in search of America's famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few. NoViolet Bulawayo's debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her--from Junot Diaz to Zadie Smith to J.M. Coetzee--while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own.

The Death of Trotsky (Kindle Single)


Cecelia Holland - 2015
    In The Death of Trotsky, Cecelia Holland brings this fated and fatal day to life, from its quotidian beginnings to its dramatic close. Between Trotsky’s waking and his final rest, she probes the outer-workings and inner thoughts of those who were with him till the end, illuminating a man who exited life as he lived it: defiantly. Cecelia Holland, author of more than 30 books and articles, lives in northern California with her family.Cover Design by Adil Dara.

The Translator


Leila Aboulela - 1999
    Now, for the first time in North America, we step back to her extraordinarily assured debut about a widowed Muslim mother living in Aberdeen who falls in love with a Scottish secular academic. Sammar is a Sudanese widow working as an Arabic translator at a Scottish university. Since the sudden death of her husband, her young son has gone to live with family in Khartoum, leaving Sammar alone in cold, gray Aberdeen, grieving and isolated. But when she begins to translate for Rae, a Scottish Islamic scholar, the two develop a deep friendship that awakens in Sammar all the longing for life she has repressed. As Rae and Sammar fall in love, she knows they will have to address his lack of faith in all that Sammar holds sacred. An exquisitely crafted meditation on love, both human and divine, The Translator is ultimately the story of one woman’s courage to stay true to her beliefs, herself, and her newfound love.

The Dust Diaries


Owen Sheers - 2004
    Compelled by the description of Cripps' extraordinary life in Africa, Sheers embarks on a journey through contemporary Zimbabwe in an attempt to better understand his ancestor's devotion to the country and its people and the dramatic, often bloody, differences that echo across the years.

The Boy Next Door


Irene Sabatini - 2009
    At heart a love story, it is also so much more as, through the experiences of its charismatic protagonists, it charts the first two decades of the emerging Zimbabwe with honesty, humour and humanity... Irene Sabatini has written an important book that will enchant readers and which marks the emergence of a serious new talent.”Di Spiers, Editor of Readings at BBC Radio 4,Orange Award for New Writers Chair of JudgesSynopsis:In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, there is a tragedy in the house next door to Lindiwe Bishop; her neighbor has been burned alive. The victim's stepson, Ian McKenzie, is the prime suspect but is soon released. Lindiwe can't hide her fascination with this young, boisterous and mysterious white man, and they soon forge an unlikely closeness even as the country starts to deteriorate. Years after circumstances split them apart, Ian returns to a much-changed Zimbabwe to see Lindiwe, now a sophisticated, impassioned young woman, and discovers a devastating secret that will alter both of their futures, and draw them closer together even as the world seems bent on keeping them apart. The Boy Next Door is a moving and powerful debut about two people finding themselves and each other in a time of national upheaval.

Crossing the Congo: Over Land and Water in a Hard Place


Mike Martin - 2016
    Traversing 2,500 miles of the toughest terrain on the planet in a twenty-five year-old Land Rover, they faced repeated challenges, from kleptocracy and fire ants to non-existent roads and intense suspicion from local people. Through imagination and teamwork -- including building rafts and bridges, conducting makeshift surgery in the jungle and playing tribal politics -- they got through. But the Congo is raw, and the journey took an unexpected psychological toll on them all. Crossing the Congo is an offbeat travelogue, a story of friendship and what it takes to complete a great journey against tremendous odds, and an intimate look into one of the world's least-developed and most fragile states, told with humor and sensitivity.

Black Gold of the Sun: Searching for Home in Africa and Beyond


Ekow Eshun - 2005
    In 2001, at the age of thirty-three, Ekow Eshun-born in London to African-born parents-embarks on a trip to Ghana in search of his roots, and in this rich narrative he evokes both the physical and emotional aspects of his travels. Eshun makes his way to Accra, Ghana's cosmopolitan capital city; to the storied slave forts of Elmina; to the historic warrior kingdom of Asante. He reflects on earlier pilgrims who followed the same path-W. E. B. DuBois, Richard Wright, Malcolm X-and on the millions of slaves shipped to the West from the Ghanaian coast. He recalls the racially charged years of his youth, and he considers the paradoxes and possibilities in contemporary Britain for someone like himself. Finally, he uncovers a long-held secret about his lineage that will compel him to question everything he knows about himself and about where he comes from. Written with exquisite particularity of place and mind, and with rare immediacy and candor, "Black Gold of the Sun" tells a story of identity, belonging, and unexpected hope.

Once Upon a White Man


Graham Atkins - 2012
    A gripping love declaration to Africa with the troubles of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe as background, the real protagonist of this book is Africa with all her wonders and horrors. "Highly recommended for lovers of the continent, especially those longing for a well-balanced and honest insider’s account of recent African history (B. Pataki 2013) "

Something Out There: Stories


Nadine Gordimer - 1984
    Contents: A city of the dead, a city of the living --At the rendezvous of victory --Letter from his father --Crimes of conscience --Sins of the third age --Blinder --Rags and bones --Terminal --A correspondence course --Something out there

Clear Body, Clear Mind


L. Ron Hubbard - 2002
    Hundreds of thousands have done this program and live happier, more perceptive and aware lives as a result.   Read the book Clear Body Clear Mind.Purification and Life, by L. Ron Hubbard"We live in a chemical oriented society."One would be hard put to find someone in the present-day civilization who is not affected by this fact. The vast majority of the public is subjected every day to the intake of food preservatives and other chemical poisons including atmospheric poisons, pesticides and the like. Added to this are the pain pills, tranquilizers and other medical drugs used and prescribed by doctors. And we have as well the widespread use of marijuana, LSD, angel dust and other street drugs which contribute heavily to the scene."I have even found that there is such a thing as the 'drug personality.' Drugs can apparently change the attitude of a person from his original personality to one secretly harboring hostilities and hatreds he does not permit to show on the surface. While this possibly is not always the case, it does establish a linkage between drugs and increasing difficulties with crime, production, program execution and the modern breakdown of the social and industrial culture."These factors are all part of the biochemical problem."WHY "PURIFICATION"?"We have known since 1968 that it is a mistake to try to do mental and spiritual handling on somebody who has been on drugs. People who have been on drugs do not make case gain* until the drugs are handled."In 1977, I stated that LSD apparently stays in the system, lodging in the tissues and mainly the fatty tissues of the body and is liable to go into action again, giving the person unpredictable 'trips.'"From the most recent research developments, it now appears that: Not only LSD but other chemical poisons and toxins, preservatives, pesticides, etc, as well as medical drugs and the long list of heavy street drugs (angel dust, heroin, marijuana, etc.) can lodge in the tissues and remain in the body for years."Even medicinal drugs such as diet pills, codeine, novocaine and others have gone into 'restim' [restimulation] years after they were taken and had supposedly been eliminated from the body."Thus it seems that any or all of these hostile biochemical substances can get caught up in the tissues and their accumulation probably disarranges the biochemistry and fluid balance of the body."Drug residues can stop any mental health. They also stop a person's life!"The removal of these life-hostile chemical substances from the body of any person apparently speeds, and in some cases even makes possible, case gain. It is even worth doing for its own sake."The Purification Rundown, therefore, is for anyone."—L. Ron HubbardFind out exactly what the Purification® Program can do for YOU. Buy Clear Body Clear Mind by L. Ron Hubbard.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives


Lola Shoneyin - 2010
    The struggles, rivalries, intricate family politics, and the interplay of personalities and relationships within the complex private world of a polygamous union come to life in The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives—Big Love and The 19th Wife set against a contemporary African background.

Keith Richards: In His Own Words


Keith Richards - 1994
    Rhythm guitarist with The Rolling Stones for over 30 years, he is also famous in his own right as a solo artist.

Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses


Harold Bloom - 2003
    This comprehensive study guide also features "The Story Behind the Story" which details the conditions under which All the Pretty Horses was written. This title also includes a short biography on Cormac McCarthy and a descriptive list of characters.

Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa's Road to Change


Allister Sparks - 1994
    Tomorrow is Another Country retells the story of the behind-the-scenes collaborations that started with a meeting between Kobie Coetsee, then minister of justice, and Nelson Mandela in 1985. By 1986, negotiations involved senior government officials, intelligence agents, and the African National Congress. For the next four years, they assembled in places such as a gamepark lodge, the Palace Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland, a fishing hideaway, and even in a hospital room. All the while, De Klerk's campaign assured white constituents nothing would change. Sparks shows how the key players, who began with little reason to trust one another, developed friendships which would later play a crucial role in South Africa's struggle to end apartheid."A gripping, fast-paced, authoritative account of the long and mostly secret negotiations that brought South Africa's bitter conflict to its near-miraculous end. Sparks's description of these talks sometimes brings a lump to one's throat. He shows how the participants' deep mutual suspicion was gradually replaced by excitement at the prospect of making a momentous agreement—and also by the dawning realization that the people on the other side were human beings, perhaps even decent human beings."—Adam Hochschild, New York Times Book Review"A splendid and original history. . . . Sparks's skillful weaving of myriad strands—Mandela's secret sessions with the committee, the clandestine talks in England between the African National Congress and the government, the back-channel communications between Mandela and the A.N.C. in exile, the trepidation of Botha and the apparent transformation of his successor, De Klerk—possesses the drama and intrigue of a diplomatic whodunit."—Richard Stengel, Time"Sparks offers many reasons for hope, but the most profound of them is the story this book tells."—Jacob Weisberg, Washington Post"The most riveting of the many [accounts] that have been published about the end of apartheid."—The Economist