Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie

Author: Chimamanda Adichie
Series: Kwani

Chimamanda Adichie was 25 years old when she wrote her debut novel, which isn’t in itself a reason to read it. But it does add to the wonder evoked by such a gripping narration of the many forms oppression can take. Purple Hibiscus follows a young woman’s liberation from her tyrannical father; it is a drama within a drama, placed in the Nigerian context of western colonial influence and a powerful Christianity bent on stamping out the last traces of native religion.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie

Author: Chimamanda Adichie
Series: Kwani

In 1967, most African nations were caught up in the euphoria of the independence movement that had recently swept the continent. But when Nigeria’s Igbo people declared their independence from the mother state, the country became one of the first in post-colonial Africa to go to war with itself. Read more

Kizuizini by Joseph Muthee

Author: Joseph Muthee
Series: Kwani

In 1954, at the height of the Special Emergency that preceded Kenyan independence, Joseph Muthee was sent to prison by his colonial boss on suspicion of being a Mau Mau rebel. Kizuizini is his autobiographical account of the five years he spent in detention, half a decade of continuous transfer from one harsh jail to another. It is also a chronicle of the Mau Mau themselves – what they fought for, where they hid, and who betrayed them. Writing in Swahili from his farm in central Kenya, the now-80-year-old Muthee has provided a rare glimpse into his country’s turbulent birth.