Litnet

"While the Afro-Brazilian connection through transportation of enslaved West Africans to Bahía and other ports and parts of the 'New World' is well known, this novel does the unusual thing of depicting the return of one such (former) slave to the Yoruba region of her family origins."

"A casualty of power is a brief novel, but it packs a strong punch, vividly and effectively raising matters of importance and urgent relevance to millions of Africans – and others, for African situations are never unique – and their intelligent depiction can enlighten readers all over the world."

"This important and moving text is the last completed work by an Algerian Berber novelist and public intellectual who wrote in French, the language in which the original Éditions du Seuil edition appeared in 1962."

"[T]he novel lends density and depth to readers’ perceptions of Ugandan society and histories, and of its vibrant present, despite its multiple troubles and difficulties that remain to be dealt with."

"This important narrative, like other well-known, earlier examples of African prison memoirs, many of them by famous writers, is a record of courage, friendship and enterprise in loyal league against the incarcerating, isolating and obliterating forces of tyranny."

"The Indian community of Kenya comes into strong focus in this recent novel, part family saga, part social analysis and part romance, set mainly in Nairobi and combining idealistic hope with some strongly satirical exposures of the city’s and the society’s ugly underbelly."

"Brief as it is, and with some of the naïveties of a first novel, Mukasonga’s narrative packs a powerful punch without exploiting the Rwandan tragedy for merely melodramatic effects."

"Sometimes seen as primarily a family saga or a portrait of the teeming city of Cairo, this debut novel’s wider resonance is indicated in the subtitle; it is a highly sophisticated reading of the pulse of urban Egypt over a stretch of the 30 years between 1984 and 2014."

"Told with great candour and in her inimitable, forthright style, Vollenhoven’s is one of the most important South African autobiographies to have appeared."

"The shadow of things to come is a brief text that packs a mighty punch: it is a finely written and vividly imagined narrative, many of whose details I have not even mentioned in this profile: a grim, brilliant, spell-binding work."

"My name is Faustin, Faustin Nsenghimana. I’m fifteen years old. I’m in a cell in Kigali central prison. I’m waiting to be executed."

"This fine and moving text by an author originally from elsewhere is a rich contribution to the African library ..."

"Lagos is simultaneously the topic and setting of this text, and was also the title the author originally gave this fascinating modern fantasy novel."

"I strongly recommend that all readers encounter for themselves the charming, humane, by turns hilarious and profound tales contained in this collection ..."

"This fine example of the detective genre is strongly recommended to readers – not only for its clever plot, but also for its richer insights."