Recommended Novels

Par Jean-Yves Loude, paru chez Actes Sud. Un superbe récit de voyage très original dans les îles de l’Atlantique, où un théâtre populaire utilise Charlemagne comme souverain exemplaire. (more…)

Childhood and growing up in Mimboland are infused with fascinating stories and adventures. Discover life in Abakwa with Tom and his friend, as they are chased through an orchard for secretly harvesting avocadoes and mangoes. (more…)

Paru en 1987, ‘Beloved’ est le roman le plus important de l’oeuvre de Toni Morrison, prix Nobel de littérature en 1993. Un jour de l’année 1855, Sethe s’échappe du Bon Abri, une ferme comme il en existe des milliers dans l’Amérique esclavagiste du 19e siècle. [Grioo]

Deux amis sont en prison; l’un veut y rester car c’est là qu’il trouve sa liberté, sa dignité et ses repères; l’autre cherche à en sortir, pour mieux s’insérer dans le monde, dans l’actualité et dans le sens irréversible d’une histoire qu’il n’a pas écrite. (more…)

Francis B. Nyamnjoh’s A Nose for Money (EAPH, 2006) is a uniquely detailed presentation of the causes and consequences of political instability in Mimboland (Cameroonian) society since Re-Unification. The society that is depicted is one that can only breed diseased and demented leaders. Reviewed by Bate Besong. (more…)

“Thirteen Cents” is an extraordinary and unsparing account of the coming of age of a young street child named Azure trying to make ends meet in this other side of Cape Town. Cape Town, between the postcard mountain and sea, has its own shadow-side lurking in its lap: a place of dislocation and uncertainty, dependence and desperation, destruction and survival, gangsters, pimps, paedophiles, hunger, hope and moments of happiness. (more…)

In The Heart of Redness — shortlisted for the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize — Zakes Mda sets a story of South African village life against a notorious episode from the country’s past. The result is a novel of great scope and deep human feeling, of passion and reconciliation. (more…)

Mr Mda adds a touch of magic to the grim realism more common in accounts of black South African life. He tells of Toloki, a professional mourner clad in a raggedy top hat and tight trousers, who witnesses the many ways to expire. (more…)

Temps de Chien, demeure à ce jour, l’une des oeuvres clées de la littérature contemporaine camerounaise. [grioo]