Fiction

Chinua Achebe is considered the father of modern African literature, the writer who “opened the magic casements of African fiction.” The African Trilogy–comprised of Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and No Longer at Ease–is his magnum opus. In these masterly novels, Achebe brilliantly imagines the lives of three generations of an African community as their world is upended by the forces of colonialism from the first arrival of the British to the waning days of empire.

The trilogy opens with the groundbreaking Things Fall Apart, the tale of Okonkwo, a hero in his village, whose clashes with missionaries–coupled with his own tragic pride–lead to his fall from grace. Arrow of God takes up the ongoing conflict between continuity and change as Ezeulu, the headstrong chief priest, finds his authority is under threat from rivals and colonial functionaries. But he believes himself to be untouchable and is determined to lead his people, even if it is towards their own destruction. Finally, in No Longer at Ease, Okonkwo’s grandson, educated in England, returns to a civil-service job in Lagos, only to see his morality erode as he clings to his membership in the ruling elite.

Drawing on the traditional Igbo tales of Achebe’s youth, The African Trilogy is a literary landmark, a mythic and universal tale of modern Africa. As Toni Morrison wrote, “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe. For passion, intellect and crystalline prose, he is unsurpassed.”

Two couples. One steamy affair. And ninety-nine other problems.

Owami meets a man and believes they will live happily ever after. Three children later, she realises all that she thought they had wasn’t true when she finds out that her husband has rekindled a relationship with an ex-girlfriend. She escapes to her parents but fear for the future of her children and some manipulation from her in-laws and her mother, leads her to return to her marital home. This time, with open eyes.

Akani believes he has married close to the perfect girl. But when he quits his job to start a company and his wife becomes the main breadwinner, he notices that he has become a junior partner in what used to be a relationship of equals. Unable to deal with this state of affairs, he leaves home. Family intervention leads him back home to his wife and just when he thinks he can safely balance his loving life at home and the secret his wife knows nothing about, tragedy strikes.

Then on a rainy Johannesburg evening, Owami meets Akani and they both fall hopelessly in love. An intense relationship begins between the two and whatever they have found together, no marriage can put asunder. As they shoulder the weighty secrets and emotional baggage of their pasts, they must also weather the storms that threaten to separate them.

Zukiswa Wanner’s fifth novel is a thrilling tale of scorned love, resilience, healing love, retribution, losing yet finding oneself in love, and consequences.

BURY YOUR SECRET OR DIE FOR IT.

17-year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins.

Until someone discovers her dark secret.

To hide from the assassin hunting her and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever.

If caught, she will be killed.

But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and assassin-in-training.

When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: Embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life, or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.

Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.

Brimming with ballgowns and betrayal, magic and mystery, decadence and darkness, House of Marionne is perfect for readers who crave morally gray characters, irresistible romance, dark academia, and a deeply intoxicating and original world.

Perfect for fans of Sonali Dev and Uzma Jalaluddin, Noreen Mughees’s immersive debut novel reunites star-crossed childhood sweethearts against all odds, only for their second chance to clash with their parents’ strict beliefs.

Thirty-three-year-old hijabi Sana Saeed has put away her childhood dream of ishq—an all-consuming, sweeping love. The arranged dates she’s agreed to have failed time after time, and she has responsibilities to consider—namely her sweet, autistic younger brother, Zia. Sana and Zia are a package deal, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. But their traditional mother won’t allow Sana to be named as his future guardian . . . unless she’s married.

When Daniel Malik walks into Sana’s office at the Department of Environmental Conservation, she’s astonished—their childhood friendship has been a cherished memory ever since a feud between their families put an end to it eighteen years ago. But there’s no chance of them becoming close again; Daniel may be as hot as a Bollywood heartthrob, but not only is he Sana’s new boss, her mother would disown her if she ever brought him home.

With the clock ticking, Sana agrees to a marriage arranged by her family. She’s seen plenty of arranged marriages grow into love; maybe that will happen for her too. But when a high-stakes case at work forces Sana and Daniel to team up, they find themselves less able—and willing—to play their parts of “good desi children.”

Now Sana must make a choice: family and security, or the one man who claimed her heart long ago.