Whenever you buy a book from our online store, we may make a small commission which supports our work. Visit our online store here.
Anyone who’s old enough would remember the popular Nigerian TV show Tales by Moonlight. If you’re older, chances are you might have witnessed the authentic thing at some point, gathering to tell and hear stories as the moon climbed into the sky. But everyone recognizes the thrill of such tales: tales that delight as well as terrify, that are just as imaginative as they are socially and politically relevant. That make you long for a world you never knew.
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of books that read like tales by moonlight. From the story of a troubled treasure hunter to that of a spirit child who chooses to remain in a crumbling world rather than escape to bliss of eternity, the books in this collection will cast a spell on you just like any tale by moonlight.
Read our recommendations below:
things fall apart
author: Chinua achebe
Genre: fiction
If ever an African novel could evoke a sense of nostalgia for a time that was never yours, like the best moonlight tales, then it is Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. A magnum opus of African literature, it tells a story of a crucial transitory period in African history—just before the incursion of the British government in a little Igbo village—creating a compelling idea of how things were in the African past for contemporary readers.
It follows the story of Okonkwo, a warrior and clan leader in the village of Umofia. Driven to succeed by his disdain for his father, the lazy debtor Unoka, Okonkwo forges himself into a strong, tough man. This way, he earns himself much fame and prosperity. But when his hypermasculinity pushes him to make a terrible decision, only misfortune seems to follow. He is exiled from his village for seven years, loses his son to the missionaries and his village to the British government. Before the end, Okonkwo will realize how weak he is alone, without his people.
Written in an English that feels like home, recognizable, easing you into a world that feels like yours, this book perfectly demonstrates Achebe’s commitment to ‘do unheard of things’ with the English language.
song of solomon
AUTHOR: toni morrison
GENRE: fiction
Set in the mid-20th century, Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon is rich with indigenous folklore. In fact, a crucial premise of the story is based on the myth of the flying African, the unverifiable story of an African man who, captured and sold as slave to America, one day suddenly picks up from the American plantation where he labours and flies all by himself back home to Africa.
Song of Solomon follows the life of Milkman Dead, an African American man born into a dysfunctional family, just after a strange man tries to fly from a rooftop. For as long as Milkman lives, he will always dream of flying, disinterested in his life in the community. When he learns an old family secret and the possible existence of an ‘inheritance’, he travels all the way south to Pennsylvania with a determination to find a lost bag of gold, a journey that will transform him more than he ever bargained for.
Beyond the undeniable indigenous influences in the plot, the story is told in a rhythm of metaphors so steady it becomes like a prolonged trance, casting as powerful a spell as any moonlight tale.
the watkins book of african folklore
authOR: helen nde
GENRE: fiction
Cameroonian folklorist Helen Nde’s breathtaking 2025 collection The Watkins Book of African Folklore, brings together 50 folktales from across Africa. From fables to founding legends and creation myths, the stories in this collection come from Egypt, Sierra Leone, Somalia and more. Nde doesn’t simply just recount these stories but rather brings a ‘fresh perspective on African Folktales for anyone interested in folktales, mythology and storytelling from around the world.’
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.
the famished road
AUTHOR: ben okri
GENRE: fiction
In 1991, Nigerian author Ben Okri became the first African to win the Booker (then Man Booker) prize. The book that earned him that award was The Famished Road, published earlier that year, a book which transports readers into the African spirit realm like any tale by moonlight.
The story follows Azaro, an abiku child born into the ghettos of and unnamed African city. Though he is expected to soon return to the spirit world (which means dying in the human world) Azaro finds himself so in love with his parents that he decides to stay with them, breaching his agreement with his spirit siblings. But no matter how disgruntled his siblings get or how increasingly violently they express it; in spite, even of the violence of poverty and strife that marks his ghetto life, Azaro decides to stay with his parents in a country falling apart.
african ghost short stories
editor: chinelo onwualu
GENRE: fiction
What good is a moonlight tale if it doesn’t send shivers down your spine? In African Ghost Short Stories, Nigerian author Chinelo Okparanta compiles and edits African ghost stories by African authors from across the continent. But these aren’t simply ghost stories. The stories in this anthology ‘[explore] the deep-seated supernatural element in African storytelling—whether reaching back to the spirits, ancestors and ogres of folklore or the vibrantly modern ghosts of today’s African horror.’
The stories come from a diverse list of authors, including renowned ones like Thomas Mofolo, Amos Tutuola, Okwiri Oduor and Suyi Davies Okungbowa⎈
