The Old Drift

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell is both a family saga and the fictionalized history of Zambia. This genreblend combines historical fiction, magical realism, science fiction and more. 

In 1904 on the Zambezi River, an incident involving three families sets off a series of events/results that will effect five generations of offspring.

A British explorer, Percy has been in Africa for a few years and is suffering from delirium when he attends an evening at the new hotel on the River.

Giovanna is the daughter of the Italian hotel owner. Her actions that night cause a hex on her family.

N'gulube is injured that night and caught up in the fates.

This is an amazing book, both in scope and creativity. It has been hailed as the Heart of Darkness from the point of view of those invaded instead of from the colonizers. Serpell is a wonderful writer whose characters are endearing and wonderfully flawed. This book is sure to become a classic.

Serpell, Namwali, (2019). The Old Drift. New York: Hogarth.

Infinite Country

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel is a book everyone should read. 

Talia, who is sixteen, has a week to get across Colombia back to Bogota to catch a plane to the United States. Her mother is finally sending for her to join her siblings in New Jersey.

Unfortunately, in order to get there, Talia has to break out of a school/prison and, with no money, get about one hundred miles.

Talia born in the US, but raised in Bogota by her grandmother and father. Her parents had traveled to the US for work and stayed past their visas - living in fear, taking underpaying and dangerous jobs with no protection from their employers. 

When her father was deported back to Columbia, there was no way for him to return to the US. Two of his three children born in a country he cannot visit, the third of who cannot come see him in Colombia.

Engel has written a family epic in a small book with a giant punch. This is a beautiful, heart-wrenching story of many families. Buy a copy today.

Engel, Patricia. (2021). Infinite Country. New York: Avid Reader Press.

Homegoing

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is the best book I have read this year. I have given copies away and recommended it to everyone I know who likes to read!

Homegoing is an epic family tale, following two branches of a family tree from 1700s through today. The family started in what is today Ghana. The book begins with two sisters. They live in different villages and do not know they are sisters. One, Effia, marries a British man and lives in the castle that controls the slave trade in the region. The other, Esi, is captured during a battle between two tribes and is sold to the British and send to the United States.

Each chapter is a new person in the line, alternating between the progeny of Effia and Esi, through all of the changes in Ghana and the United States. Gyasi highlights the major themes of African and African American history through personal stories of the characters.

I tend to like family epics. A couple of examples are The Night Counter by Alia Yunis and Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. What Gyasi adds is a greater sense of how the social and political changes effect each generation and build on what that generation learned from the last.

If you have not yet read this, buy a copy TODAY! You will be drawn in by it. With each chapter you will fall in love with the next character while wanting more of the previous one (which you will get in many cases through the stories of their children). This book will live with you long after you finish it. I have read four books since this and still find myself thinking about it every couple of days.

Homegoing is on my list of best books I have ever read. I will always be grateful to my local bookstore for putting it on display.

Gyasi, Yaa. (2016). Homegoing. New York: Vintage Books.

Fall On Your Knees

Fall on Yours Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald is likely to be one of the most well written books you will ever read. MacDonald gets ideas across in succinct yet detailed sentences that capture the imagination. The book is so good that even when you decided you dislike almost every character, you will have to keep reading. (By the end you may like some of the characters again.)

This epic novel follows the Piper family from young James through his grandchildren as they grow, fight, and escape Cape Breton Island off of the coast of Nova Scotia.

Each character is beautiful and flawed and real - Materia who has a daughter she does not love; Kathleen who only cares about singing; Mercedes who hides behind her religion; Frances who is too bold for her own good; and Lily who is the saint. Each character whether part of the Piper family or outside is well developed and enticing.

It is no wonder this first book by MacDonald has won dozens of awards.

MacDonald, Ann-Marie. (1996). Fall on Your Knees. New York: Simon & Schuster.