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One of the greatest pleasures of reading is how a single book can make you feel a myriad of emotions. I, for one, like a book that makes me bawl my eyes out (shoutout to Hanya Yanaghira’s A Little Life!). But the beauty of such books is in how they manage to glue the pieces of your heart back together just after shattering it.
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven books that will break you and heal you right back. From the moving story about the separation of twin brothers to a sci-fi novel that transports readers continuously between the present and the antebellum past, the books on this list will make you cry, but they will also make you smile.
Read our recommendations below.
kindred
author: octavia e. butler
Genre: fiction
Octavia E. Butler’s 1979 novel, Kindred, is a science fiction novel that explores themes of slavery, identity, and time travel. It is often regarded as a classic and it follows the experiences of Dana, a modern-day African-American writer living in 1970s Los Angeles. One day, she is inexplicably transported back in time to the antebellum South, where she saves the life of a young white boy named Rufus, the son of a plantation owner. Dana soon realizes that her time-traveling episodes are connected to Rufus, who will eventually play a crucial role in her ancestry.
As Dana repeatedly returns to the past, she becomes increasingly entangled in the brutal realities of slavery. She faces the horrors of the institution firsthand and witnesses the power dynamics that shape the lives of both the enslaved and the enslavers.
Through Dana’s experiences, Kindred examines the lasting impacts of slavery, the complexities of race and gender, and the tension between historical legacy and personal identity. Butler’s novel challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about history while offering a profound meditation on the connections between past, present, and future.
segu
AUTHOR: maryse Condé
GENRE: fiction
Guadeloupean author and lone winner of the New Academy Prize in Literature (conceived of as an alternative to the Nobel Prize in Literature), Maryse Condé, stunned the world in 1984 with the publication of her rollercoaster of a novel, Segu.
Segu is a historical novel set in the eighteenth century in the kingdom of Segu, located in what is now Mali. The story traces the rise and fall of this powerful West African kingdom, focusing on the lives the four sons of Dousika Traore, the most trusted advisor to the king of Segu.
The novel crosses decades and continents, vividly portraying the unique experiences of each son and how they ‘embody the forces tearing at the fabric of the nation’. Segu is an African saga that richly details the historical roots of colonialism, both European and Islamic, and its impact on the fabric of African life. At about 500 pages, with many different characters, the novel is rich with stories that will break your heart and then heal it.
nervous conditions
authOR: tsitsi dangarembga
GENRE: fiction
Tsitsi Dangarembga’s 1988 novel, Nervous Conditions, is often considered a modern-day classic. It is a powerful coming-of-age novel set in post-colonial Zimbabwe, following the life of Tambu, a young Shona girl who navigates the challenges of gender, culture and education in a society deeply marked by colonialism and patriarchy.
Tambu dreams of going to school, but she is denied this opportunity due to her family’s limited resources. However, after the death of her brother, she is given the chance to attend school in the city, at the suggestion of her uncle Babamukuru.
Now finally in school, Tambu grows more aware of the systemic inequalities she faces, both as a woman and as an African in a world shaped by colonial power structures and must find a way to navigate the complex dynamics of family, gender expectations, and societal pressures.
Cassava Republic Press is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women. Deadline: 30th June 2024. Learn more here.
measuring time
AUTHOR: helon habila
GENRE: fiction
Mamo and LaMamo have always dreamt of escaping their little village of Keti. They are twin brothers, growing up under the domineering influence of their controlling father. While Mamo is slight and sickly, LaMamo is strong and healthy. One day, they finally decide to escape, to become soldiers in another place, but only LaMamo succeeds in leaving the village. Mamo is forced to stay back in Keti with their father.
As the years pass, Mamo grows up to become a scholar, enjoying much fame as a local historian. He starts his career as a schoolteacher but eventually begins work as a secretary to the ruler of Keti. His dream is to one day write the ‘true’ history of his people.
LaMamo, on the other hand, goes on to achieve the boys’ dreams of becoming a soldier, giving himself up for hire during West African wars. However, life as a soldier is not as rosy as he and his brother imagined. He suffers a lot of loss and personal tragedies, making him the reclusive hero type. He often writes home to his brother as a way of bridging the gap of separation between them. As famine spreads through Keti, tensing up the political climate of the small village, LaMamo finds himself on the way back home to fight the ‘enemy at home’.
Measuring Time has been described as a ‘heart-wrenching history of Nigeria, portrayed through the eyes of a single family.’
the book of night women
Author: marlon james
Genre: fiction
Set on a Jamaican plantation in the late eighteenth century, The Book of Night Women is a haunting novel following the life of Lilith, a young, enslaved woman who grows up on the estate of the ruthless slave owner. Bold and defiant, as Lilith matures, she becomes entangled in the world of the ‘night women’, a secret group of enslaved women who plot rebellion against their oppressors. These women are bound by a shared desire for freedom and their collective resistance to the horrors of slavery.
Through raw and intense narration, James offers vivid, brutal depictions of life on the plantation. He doesn’t shy away from the violence of slave life, forcing the reader to reckon with it.
beloved
AUTHOR: toni morrison
GENRE: fiction
Beloved is arguably American Nobel laureate Toni Morrison’s most critically and popularly acclaimed novel. It is a haunting and powerful novel set in the aftermath of the American Civil War.
The novel follows the story of Sethe, an escaped slave living in Cincinnati with her daughter Denver. Forever marked by the trauma of slavery, Sethe is constantly haunted by her past. Significantly, her house is haunted by a petulant ghost which she believes is the spirit of her dead daughter Beloved. When an old friend Paul D moves in with Sethe and Denver, he manages to expel the ghost from the house.
Shortly after, a distressed young woman named Beloved appears at their doorstep, and Sethe becomes convinced that this is the spirit returned in physical form. As Beloved’s presence grows more dominant, Sethe’s emotional and mental state deteriorates, and long-buried memories of her past are brought to the surface.
small worlds
authOR: caleb azumah nelson
GENRE: fiction
Small Worlds is a lyrical coming-of-age novel that follows Stephen, a young British-Ghanaian man, as he navigates family expectations, cultural identity, and personal passion.
For Stephen, the greatest thing in the world is dancing. It is through dancing that he is able to truly and fully be himself. He dances everywhere he can: at church, even though he has lost his faith; with his friends; alone at home, etc. Although he is very close with his mother, his relationship with his father is quite strained, shaped as it is by unspoken expectations and generational differences.
Set over three summers in South London and Ghana, the novel explores themes of love, loss, identity and self-discovery, offering a tender and reflective portrayal of a young man trying to find his place in the world⎈