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Historical Novels of AfricaJump to: Egypt and the North 
Africa has an interesting history and rich cultural traditions. Though relatively fewer novelists have chosen to write about its history, those that have include Nobel prizewinner Naguib Mahfouz and bestselling authors James A. Michener, M.M. Kaye and Wilbur Smith, as well as lesser known authors who deserve to be more widely read.Egypt is an ancient culture (see Ancient History for novels set in the time of the pharaohs), and the entire southern Mediterranean coast has a history that stretches back to the Roman Empire. The influx of Dutch into South Africa during the seventeenth century ushered in centuries of conflict between natives and white settlers, known as Afrikaners. Other nations, including Germany and England, colonized other parts of the continent, leading to similar conflicts as well as conflicts between the English and Germans during World Wars I and II. Novels of warfare written primarily from the perspective of European soldiers are listed on the various pages for novels with European settings.
Egypt and the North
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Gamal al-Ghitani, Zayni Barakat, about a man's rise to power in sixteenth century Cairo. Tahar ben Jelloun, The Sand Child, about a Moroccan man in the early twentieth century who raises his eighth daughter as a boy so that she will be able to inherit his estate. Tahar ben Jelloun, The Sacred Night, about a Moroccan woman raised as a boy and her search for her identity as a woman; sequel to The Sand Child. Monica Burns, Kismet (2010), historical romance set in nineteenth-century Morocco about a Moroccan chieftain and a woman raised in a brothel, where she learned the arts of seduction. Anne Marie Drosso, In Their Father's Country (2009), about two sisters of Syrian descent growing up amid the anti-British unrest in Cairo in the 1920s. Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Desert Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Onitsha Amin Maalouf, Leo the African, about a sixteenth century Moroccan geographer and his travels through the Mediterranean world.
Naguib Mahfouz, Palace of Desire, about a Cairo family in the 1920s; #2 in the Cairo Trilogy. Naguib Mahfouz, Sugar Street, about a Cairo family during the emergence of modern Egypt; #3 in the Cairo Trilogy. Naguib Mahfouz, Cairo Modern, about the Egyptian city of Cairo during the 1930s. Naguib Mahfouz, The Beginning and the End, about Cairo during World War II. Naguib Mahfouz, The Harafish, about many generations of an Egyptian family as they rise to wealth and power and become subject to its temptations. Naguib Mahfouz, Morning and Evening Talk, a literary novel about five generations of three Cairo families from the time of Napoleon to the 1980s, in the form of character sketches presented in alphabetical order.
Wilbur Smith, Cry Wolf, about a Texas engineer and a British gun-runner who make a deal with an Ethiopian prince as Italian armies threaten Ethiopia during World War II. Ahdaf Soueif, The Map of Love, about a modern American journalist who travels to Egypt to learn the story of her ancestors: an English widow and an Egyptian who fell in love in 1901. Bahaa Taher, Sunset Oasis (2007), about an Egyptian policeman sent by the British government of Egypt to take charge of the remote and violent Siwa Oasis at the end of the 19th century. Review by Khaled Hroub at Banipal: Magazine of Modern Arab Literature Sheniqua Waters, Slave Girl (ebook format currently available, forthcoming in print in 2009), historical romance about a beautiful young Egyptian woman kidnapped and sold into slavery in Constantinople in 1450 A.D. and from there into a Turkish harem.
Mysteries: Egypt and the North
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Michael Pearce, The Mamur Zapt and the Night of the Dog (1989), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must investigate after a dead dog in a tomb heralds a crime wave; #2 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Donkey-Vous (1990), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must investigate the case of a kidnapped tourist, finding an unexpected answer among Cairo's donkey-boys; #3 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind (1991), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must investigate an outbreak of violence in Cairo's bazaars; #4 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Girl in the Nile (1992), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must investigate the case of a missing body; #5 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Spoils of Egypt (1992), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must keep an eye on a U.S. presidential candidate's niece after she nearly lands in the path of a Cairo tram; #6 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Camel of Destruction (1993), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must investigate a case of apparent suicide by a Ministry of Agriculture clerk; #7 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Snake-Catcher's Daughter (1994), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who becomes a target of ugly rumors; #8 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Mingrelian Conspiracy (1995), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must investigate a threat to Cairo's café culture by local gangs – or possibly something more sinister; #9 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Fig-Tree Murder Michael Pearce, The Last Cut (1998), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt whomust investigate the death of a young woman whose body appeared at the site of a dam before the ceremonial "last cut," which will allow water to flow into Cairo; #11 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, Death of an Effendi (1999), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must investigate the shooting death of an important foreigner at a meeting of financiers; #12 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, A Cold Touch of Ice (2000), about a British official in Egypt before the First World War who must investigate a murder that may be related to ethnic tensions; #13 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Face in the Cemetery (2001), about a British official in 1914 Egypt who must take on the perilous and slippery task of rounding up enemy aliens as a war with Germany begins; #14 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Point in the Market (2005), about a British official in Egypt during World War I who must investigate a uproar that began in the camel market, while coping with the political and social difficulties resulting from his recent marriage to a pasha's daughter; #15 in the Mamur Zapt series. Michael Pearce, The Mark of the Pasha (2008), about a British official in turn-of-the-century Egypt who must protect local and foreign officials from the threat of bombs during a procession at the close of World War I; #16 in the Mamur Zapt series.
South Africa and the Afrikaners
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André Brink, An Instant in the Wind (1976), about a runaway slave in Boer South Africa in 1749 and the white woman, the sole survivor of an expedition into the interior, whom he agrees to guide through the wilderness of the velt back to her home. Hansen Brooks, The Chess Garden, about a white Ohio doctor working in a British concentration camp during the Boer War in 1900 who writes letters back to his wife describing a fantasy world. Stuart Cloete, Turning Wheels (1937), a novel about the nineteenth century northward migration, known as the Great Trek, of South African Afrikaners angered by the British decision to outlaw slavery; banned in South Africa at the time of its original publication Stuart Cloete, Rags of Glory (1963), about both sides of the Boer War in South Africa between the British and the Afrikaners (or Boers) of Dutch descent. Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One, a coming-of-age novel about a boy sent to a school during the years before World War II where he is the only English speaker among the mostly Afrikaner students. Bryce Courtenay, Tandia, about a young woman of mixed race raped by an Afrikaner policeman and sent to a brothel; sequel to The Power of One. Philip Danze, Conjuring Maud, about a British military student who falls in love with a much older British woman explorer at the time of the nineteenth century Zulu War. Giles Foden, Ladysmith (2001), a love story about a woman in the English-held South African town of Ladysmith when it was besieged by Boers in 1899 during the Boer War. Ann Harries, Manly Pursuits, about a British ornithologist who contracts to bring 200 British songbirds to Capetown at the end of the nineteenth century. Sheila Kohler, The House On R Street, about a troubled and potentially violent fourteen-year-old girl in 1920s South Africa. Dalene Matthee, Fiela's Child, about an orphaned white boy raised by a black woman from ages three until nine and then by a family of illiterate white woodcutters in nineteenth century Africa. Dalene Matthee, Circles in a Forest, about an Afrikaner woodcutter's son who wishes to protect the forest elephants in his area when it is disrupted by gold hunters; #1 in the Forest trilogy. Dalene Matthee, The Mulberry Forest, about a ninteenth century Afrikaner who gains the rights to his land by agreeing to help a group of nearby Italians; #2 in the Forest trilogy. Dalene Matthee, Dream Forest, about a beautiful woodcutter's daughter who marries a village man to escape the harsh life of the forest, but returns because of her yearning for a life close to nature; #3 in the Forest trilogy. James A. Michener, The Covenant, about the history of South Africa from prehistoric times through the 1970s, from the perspective of various ethnic groups but concentrating especially on the white Afrikaners. Dan Sleigh, Islands, about the seventeenth century settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, from the perspective of both the native people and the Dutch settlers.
Wilbur Smith, The Sound of Thunder (1966; also titled The Roar of Thunder), about a white South African who fights for the British during the Ango-Boer War; #2 in the first Courtney series. Wilbur Smith, A Sparrow Falls (1977), about a white South African who fights in World War I and returns to gain political power; #3 in first the Courtney series. Wilbur Smith, The Burning Shore, about an aristocratic young Frenchwoman who travels to South Africa after World War I; #1 in the second Courtney series. Wilbur Smith, Power of the Sword, about two white half-brothers who battle each other for power in South Africa as World War II begins; #2 in the second Courtney series (which continues into modern times with #6, Rage, and its sequels). Wilbur Smith, Birds of Prey (1997), about the first members of the fictional Courtney family to come to Africa, in 1667 with a letter from King Charles II allowing them to pursue and capture enemy ships beyond British waters; #1 in the third Courtney series. Wilbur Smith, Monsoon (1999), about the fictional Courtney family in eighteenth century England, East Africa and Arabia; #2 in the third Courtney series. Wilbur Smith, The Blue Horizon (2003), about the generation of the fictional Courtney family which traveled the "Robber's Road" and staked a claim in Southern Africa; #3 in the third Courtney series. Wilbur Smith, The Triumph of the Sun (2005), about a British trader trapped in Khartoum during the bloody 1884 rebellion against the Egyptian Khedive; #4 in the third Courtney series. Wilbur Smith, Assegai (2009), about a professional big game hunter in 1913 who falls in love with the mistress of one of his clients, a German industrialist from whom his uncle, a British military officer, has asked him to get information; #5 in the third Courtney series.
Elsewhere in the Continent
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William Boyd, An Ice Cream War, about the continuation of World War I in British East Africa after the Armistice had already been declared. William Boyd, A Good Man in Africa, about a British official in a fictional African country during the decline of colonialism. Bartle Bull, The White Rhino Hotel, an adventure story about a professional hunter in colonial Kenya after the end of World War I; #1 in the Anton Rider trilogy. Bartle Bull, A Café on the Nile, an adventure story about a professional hunter in colonial Kenya as Mussolini is attacking Abyssinia; #2 in the Anton Rider trilogy. Bartle Bull, The Devil's Oasis, an adventure story about a professional hunter in colonial Kenya during World War II; #3 in the Anton Rider trilogy. Frank Coates, The Last Maasai Warrior Paul D. Cohn, Sao Tome: Journey to the Abyss—Portugal's Stolen Children, about two fifteenth century Jewish children kidnapped, along with others, from their synagogue in Portugal and sent to an island off Africa to work as slaves on sugar plantations. Maryse Condé, Segu, about a family in the eighteenth century kingdom of Segu (near today's Mali) as the shift from paganism to Islam begins. Maryse Condé, The Children of Segu, about a family in the eighteenth century kingdom of Segu (near today's Mali) as the shift from paganism to Islam begins; sequel to Segu. Maryse Condé, The Last of the African Kings, about the descendants of a king of Dahomey who was exiled to the Caribbean island of Martinique. Emmanuel Dongala, The Fire of Origins (original edition in French 1987, first English edition 2001), a mystical novel about a man born in Africa before European colonization who lives through the history of Africa into the present day. Review Robert Edric, The Book of the Heathen, a literary novel about an Englishman in the nineteenth century Belgian Congo on trial for the murder of a native child. C.S. Forester, The African Queen, about a prim missionary spinster and an uncouth riverboat skipper thrown together in Colonial Africa during World War II. Henry Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines, an adventure story about a nineteenth century white explorer in who discovers a previously unexplored valley; technically not historical since the novel was set in the author's own time. M.M. Kaye, Trade Wind, about an abolitionist Boston woman and the slave trader who rescues her in a storm off Zanzibar. Jean-Marie Le Clézio, The Prospector Karen Mercury, Hinterlands, historical romance set in the Kingdom of Benin in 1897, about a New York anthropologist who supports British colonization efforts and a trader who strongly opposes them. D.T. Niane, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, a retelling of an oral tradition passed down from the thirteenth century about the man who united Mali into a single kingdom. Rafael Scott, Beyond Mali, about a man who inherits the rule of fourteenth century Mali when his father dies and, in the midst of war, reveals his dream of exploring the “Great Sea of Darkness” west of the African continent; based on a true story. Wilbur Smith, Shout at the Devil, about ivory poaching in German-occupied East Africa as tensions build in the years leading up to the First World War. Wilbur Smith, The Sunbird, about an archaeological dig that uncovers the remains of a 2000-year-old city in Botswana as the dig is threatened by modern terrorism that echoes the violence of the ancient city's destruction. Wilbur Smith, A Falcon Flies (titled Flight of the Falcon in the U.S.), about the son and daughter of a missionary who return to Africa in 1860 and find themselves in conflict over the slave trade; #1 in the Ballantyne series. Wilbur Smith, Men of Men, about a Briton during Queen Victoria's reign who tries to make his fortune in diamond mining as the colonial state of Rhodesia is born; #2 in the Ballantyne series. Wilbur Smith, The Angels Weep, about an adventurer during the last years of Queen Victoria who pushes into heart of the continent, sowing seeds of future violence; #3 in the Ballantyne series (the series continues into modern times with #4, The Leopard Hunts in Darkness, and #5, The Triumph of the Sun). Uwe Timm, Morenga, about a revolt against German colonizers in the southwest during the first decade of the twentieth century. Barbara Wood, Green City in the Sun, about a British brother and sister who come to Kenya in 1917 to find themselves in conflict with a native medicine woman, and their descendants. Barbara Wood, The Blessing Stone, about a prehistoric girl who finds a mysterious blue crystal in a meteorite, and her descendants as they carry the stone around the world. Mysteries set Elsewhere in the Continent
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Suzanne Arruda, Stalking Ivory (2007), a woman photographer joins forces with an attractive American pilot after they discover the mutilated bodies of four elephants and a man; #2 in the Jade del Cameron mystery series. Suzanne Arruda, The Serpent's Daughter (2008), a woman adventurer must rescue her missing mother and defend herself from a charge of murder when she goes on a holiday trip to Tangiers; #3 in the Jade del Cameron mystery series. Suzanne Arruda, The Leopard's Prey (2009), a woman adventurer must defend her beau from a murder charge after a dead body is found on a coffee plantation in British East Africa; #4 in the Jade del Cameron mystery series. Suzanne Arruda, Treasure of the Golden Cheetah (2009), on safari to Mount Kilimanjaro, a woman photographer must find a killer she suspects is behind a series of deadly disasters; #5 in the Jade del Cameron mystery series.
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(1980), about the life of a young Tuareg woman of the Sahara Desert in the early twentieth century; the author was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature.
(2008), about a leader of the Maasai and a British administrator in East Africa in 1911, after the British break the promise made seven years earlier to allow the Maasai to retain control over their traditional lands.