10 African novels every home library should have

We asked everyone at Books Buddies, from the tills to the stockroom, which African novels they recommend most. These ten came up again and again.

1. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe: the starting point for so many readers, and still astonishing.
2. The River Between by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: two ridges, one river, and a love story caught between them.
3. Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: a boy's dream of education during the Emergency.
4. Petals of Blood by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: Ilmorog, and the price of the new Kenya.
5. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Biafra through the eyes of those who lived it.
6. Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: a quiet, devastating family story.
7. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: love, hair and the meaning of home.
8. No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe: Obi Okonkwo returns to Lagos with a scholarship and good intentions.
9. Unbowed by Wangari Maathai: not a novel, but no Kenyan shelf is complete without it.
10. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela: likewise.

During African Writers Week you can buy any two African literature titles and take a third free, in store and online.