11 Works of Historical Fiction by African Writers

There has been a prevalent assumption that literature from Africa is monolithic or a genre in and of itself, conveying a single political message. Although admittedly, most of the early post-colonial literature from Africa was indeed political, as necessitated by the need to address the emerging issues in newly independent African states, the expanse of African literature has grown in breadth and scope considerably since this time. More so, African Literature in itself is not a genre but a geographical categorization denoting the heritage or ancestry of the writer.

I wanted to share a few selected reads from a wide range of genres, of course starting with one of my favourite genres – Historical Fiction. I hope you find something new to add to your reading list here.

1. House of Stone by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma (Zimbabwe)

House of Stone published by Atlantic Books (US) in 2018, follows the story of Zamani, a lodger in the home of Abednego and Mama Agness, as he tries to ingratiate himself in the lives of his landlords whose son, Bukhosi, has recently gone missing. Zamani is on a mission to re-write his history and fashion for himself a new existence and to do this, he needs to occupy the place of Bukhosi in the lives of Abednego and Mama Agnes. He is desperate to unearth their hi-stories and claim them for himself.

As a narrator, Zamani is quite unreliable and flawed and he employs unorthodox methods, preying on their vulnerabilities to uncover these ‘hi-stories’. In this retelling and recollection of personal histories, we see Zimbabwe’s silenced and traumatic history come to the fore merging the lives of all these characters.

2. The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)

The Shadow King, published 2019 is set during Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, The Shadow King takes us back to the first real conflict of World War II, casting light on the women soldiers who were left out of the historical record. The book begins in 1974 in Addis Ababa during the Ethiopian revolution that resulted in the ouster of Emperor Selassie. Addis Ababa streets are abuzz with student protesters (similar to opening scene in Beneath the Lion's Gaze); Hirut is on a train heading out to meet someone from her past to deliver a package and rid herself of this past that has haunted her for 40 years. She wants to forget but there are ghosts of those long gone who like her refuse a quiet grave. They must be heard. They must be remembered. They must be known. They will not rest until they have been mourned.

It then takes us back to 1935, to the second Italian invasion and ensuing Italo-Ethiopian war and attempts to fill in the gaps in history; honouring those who have been long forgotten and in particular the women who fought alongside the men and played a significant role in the liberation of Ethiopia from the Italians. At the centre of this book are the themes of Memory and Remembrance, Shadow and Light. How do we store memory? Is it in photographs or in the recesses of our minds? And how do we remember events and tell our stories. Who stands in the light to cast shadows on others? These are some of the questions the book will have you asking.

The Shadow King pays homage to the ‘forgotten’ women in the liberation struggle.

3. The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif (Egypt)

The Map of Love published 1999 follows the story of Lady Anna Winterbourne, an English widow who arrives in British-occupied Cairo in 1910. Fascinated by Egyptian culture, Anna bridles at the prejudices and parochial attitudes of the colonial community and follows her sense of curiosity to places few Europeans venture. She meets and falls in love with Sharif Basha-al-Baroudi, a fierce Arab nationalist and despite the odds and the clash in cultures, the two decide to marry. The choices and decision they make have profound repercussions not only in their own lives but in the lives of their descendants.

In the present day, one hundred years later, Anna's great-granddaughter, Isabel, an American, finds her great-grandmother's journals written in Arabic and enlists the help of Amal to translate them. Amal is an Egyptian woman, separated from her husband and children, who returns to Egypt after years living abroad. Amal however, doesn't know she is connected to Isabel until she starts to read the journals of Anna Winterbourne. This is a love story steeped in history and immersed in politics and social disparities, spanning cultures and continents.

4. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Ghana)

Published in 2016, Homegoing is a powerful multigenerational novel spanning 300 years; taking the reader from the Asante and Fante Lands in Gold coast of Africa to the cotton fields in Alabama and Coal mines in Birmingham, to Harlem in New York and back to present day Ghana for the Homegoing.

Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages in eighteenth-century Ghana. Effia is married off to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. 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.

The book traces the descendants of Effia and Esi through seven generations. Each chapter of the book written in short story form telling the story of one of the descendants from the subsequent generation of the two sisters.

This was an ambitious debut by Gyasi but one that she writes with such masterful skill. All the characters come to life and she is able to aptly capture the experiences of Africans who remained in the continent to grapple with the effects of the slave trade and colonization as well as African Americans who bore the brunt of servitude, stolen from the continent and forced into bondage, trading slavery for Jim Crow and institutionalized segregation.

5. What the day Owes the Night by Yasmina Khadra (Algeria)

What the Day Owes the Night, published in 2011 is a powerful coming of age story set against the backdrop of Algeria’s Independence struggle from the early 1930s to about mid-1960s. It follows the life of Younes, a young boy living in abject poverty who is given up to the care of his wealthier uncle and his European wife. The uncle’s wife quickly changes from Younes to Jonas, signifying an attempted assimilation and a shift in his identity; an aspect that he would struggle with for the rest of his life.

As Algeria changes and the clamour for independence intensifies, Younes finds himself caught in between two worlds, having a foot in each, but never really belonging to any – poverty v. wealth, Arab v. European, Islam v. Christianity, Colonialism v. Independence. We see Younes grow up into an indecisive man, observing from the side-lines but never really immersing himself.

This is such an important read, highlighting the Algerian revolution and how it’s effects on a people on a personal level, in most instances, how it caused rifts between lovers, family and friends loyal to the same country and the same cause.

6. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie (Nigeria)

Half of a Yellow Sun, published in 2006, is broadly about the short-lived State of Biafra and the Biafran War (1967-1970). It is also a story about the strong bonds of family, love, and the tragedy of war and human suffering.

Olanna and Kainene are twin sisters, born of Nigerian elite but whose personalities are as different as day and night. Olanna, pegged as the beautiful one of the two falls in love with a radical university professor, Odenigbo, and moves to Nsukka whilst Kainene stays on in Port Harcourt managing the family’s empire. She gets into a relationship with Richard, a British writer. We are also introduced to Ugwu, Odenigbo’s village mate and new houseboy who surprisingly is very pivotal and necessary to this story.

Events taking place before and during the war, push these characters together and apart in such monumental, life changing ways. Adichie explores themes of betrayal, love, post war trauma, and gives an ending that will stay with you for years.

7. Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Tanzania)

Published in 2020, Afterlives by Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah addresses an aspect of history that is rarely explored – Germany’s colonial history in East Africa. Whilst most of the focus has always been on Germany’s colonial expansion in Namibia and the genocide against the Herero and Nama people in 1904-1908, not much is discussed about Germany’s domination and colonial territories in Cameroon, Togo, and East Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi). Notably, Germany lost control of all its African territories during world war 1.

Afterlives is set in period preceding and after the First World war and revolves around the lives of Ilyas, Hamza and Afiya. Hamza and Ilyas are recruited into the Schutztruppe askari, the infantry division of German colonial forces in German colonies in Africa. Similar to the King’s African Rifles (KAR) in British East Africa. Gurnah explores the lives of these characters and their experiences as they attempt to rebuild post war.

Afterlives aptly captures the struggles, traumas and afterlives of Africans who went to war for colonial masters and sharply brings to focus the consequences of the First World War and colonization.

8. The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell (Zambia)

Published in 2019, The Old Drift is an extraordinary book spanning 120 years from 1903 to 2023. It is a multigenerational story that hosts a multiplicity of subplots, blending in multiple genres (historical fiction, magical realism, speculative fiction/Afrofuturism) and even has a Greek chorus in between chapters narrated by a swam of mosquitos! It may to the novice eye seem like a lot all at once, but it comes together so beautifully and is so worth it in the end.

In ‘The Old Drift’ Namwali tells the story of Zambia’s past, present and imagined near future. The novel is structured in 3 Parts: The Grandmothers, The Mothers and The Children and each part is further divided into 3 sections all centred around a woman in that generation. We follow the lives of these women and their families over a century as they evolve, diverge, and converge; and as connections are made in each subsequent generation. When these connections are made, it almost feels like piecing together the pieces of a puzzle

The generations are represented by different genres – The Grandmothers are represented by historical fiction and aspects of magical realism, will trace the origins of The Grandmothers (one blind, one with hair that grows abnormally fast and one who cries for years), from Italy and England and Northern Rhodesia; through colonisation, pre and post-independence to merge into the new nation of Zambia. This becomes their unifying identity.

The Mothers are represented by Social Realism and Science fiction. Their story follows the second generation through turbulent political times and the HIV/AIDs scourge that ravaged Africa in the 80s and 90s. And the final part of the book, ‘The Children’ are represented by Speculative Fiction and Afrofuturism, envisioning a near-future Zambia with drones the size of mosquitos and a viral vaccine.

This is a purposeful novel, where every sentence and character carries deep meaning. Even the secondary and tertiary characters who do not seem to serve any purpose when they are initially introduced come full circle in subsequent encounters. Her characters also bend in with the times making it truly a book that transcends time and generations. A timeless book!

9. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (Uganda)

Initially published in 2014 by Kwani?, Kintu is an intricate and expansive blend of history and an intergenerational family saga exploring language, myths, tradition, and modernity, and examines the power of curses in African society and the myth and power surrounding twins.

The book opens in the year 1754. Kintu Kidda, the governor (Ppookino) of Buddu Province and his men set off on a journey to the capital to pay homage to the new Kabaka. The journey is a long and difficult one. On the way, in a momentary fit of anger, Kintu’s actions unleash a curse that will plague his family for generations. Over the years, the nation of Uganda is born and through colonial times and the tribulations of the early independence years, Kintu’s descendants are scattered across the new Uganda; however, the story of their ancestor and his twin wives Nnakato and Babirye lives on and so too does the curse.

The book begins with the violent murder of Kamu Kintu in 2004 in Kampala and takes us back to 1754, to the origins of the curse. It then follows the misfortunes of the Kintu clan spanning across 3 centuries and multiple generations. In the present day, Kintu’s descendants seek to break the curse and to reconcile the inheritance of tradition and the modern world.

This is an EPIC novel. An important book. A masterpiece.

10. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze by Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)

Published in 2010, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze is an epic tale of a father and two sons, of betrayals and loyalties, of a family unravelling in the wake of Ethiopia’s revolution.

In his last days as Emperor, Haile Selassie is a man besieged – alone and abandoned. Ethiopians are angry. Drought has ravaged the country, killing close to a million people. This quiet discontent quickly morphs into civil unrest, resistance and disobedience that will see the emperor overthrown in a revolution and then smothered to death.

On the sidelines of the ensuing chaos, is a family unravelling. Haile is a medical doctor who benefited from the emperor’s education program and is conflicted on his stance in the resistance, his wife Selam, ailing and willing his family to let her die, and their two sons, Yonas – the realist and Dawit - the idealist. As this family unravelling reaches its peak with the death of Selam, they are thrown into disarray just as Haile Selassie is overthrown, sending the country into complete chaos with the Derg turning into a fascist, ruthless and dictatorial socialist regime that resulted in the deaths of close to a million Ethiopians and a further descent into anarchy and repressed freedoms.

Mengiste does a stellar job with this book, using Hailu’s family as a microcosm of Ethiopia. She beautifully captures the lives, hearts, decisions, conflictions, suffering and violence that besieged the nation during the Red Terror era and how a revolution can turn on its people. The prose is melancholic but solid, endearing the reader to the characters in all their shortcomings and flaws.

This is a recommended read for anyone curious about Ethiopia’s history and particularly the ‘Red Terror’ era that displaced hundred of thousands of Ethiopians and plunged the country into decades of authoritarianism.

11. Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter Kimani (Kenya)

Published in 2017, Dance of the the Jakaranda is set in the shadow of Kenya's independence from Great Britain, and reimagines the special circumstances that brought black, brown and white men together to lay the railroad that heralded the birth of the nation.

The Novel traces the lives and loves of three men - preacher Richard Turnbull, the colonial administrator Ian McDonald and Indian technician Babu salim - whose lives intersect when they are implicated in the controversial birth of a child. years later, when Babu's grandson Rajan - who ekes out a living by singing Babu's epic tales of the railway's construction - accidentally kisses a mysterious stranger in a dark nightclub, the encounter provides the spark that illuminates the three men's shared murky past.

These men’s personal histories become entangled and their lives intersect and are inextricably woven together post-independence and through generations from the start of the 20th century to Independence in 1963.

Which of of this have you read or will be adding to your reading list?