Colonialism

Can a small bookshop preserve the soul of a city through war, revolution, and the passing of generations? In 1936, twenty-year-old Edmond Charlot opens a bookshop in Algiers with an ambitious dream: to create a home for writers and readers from across the Mediterranean. His little shop, Les Vraies Richesses (“Our True Riches”), becomes a cultural refuge, publishing emerging writers—including a young Albert Camus—while Algeria undergoes profound political and social change. Decades later, the shop faces a very different future. Ryad, a young man with little interest in literature, arrives to empty its shelves before the premises are transformed into something else. But through the memories of its elderly guardian and the traces left by generations of readers, he begins to discover the extraordinary history contained within its walls. Moving between past and present, Kaouther Adimi weaves together the story of a real literary landmark and the turbulent history of modern Algeria. A tender tribute to books, cultural memory, and the people who protect both, A Bookshop in Algiers asks what a community loses when it allows its literary heritage to disappear.

What if translation were the most powerful weapon in the world? In 1830s Oxford, Robin Swift, an orphan from Canton, is brought to England to study languages at the prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, known as Babel. There, silver-working transforms the subtle differences between languages into extraordinary magical power, helping the British Empire expand its influence across the globe. But as Robin and his fellow students uncover the violence and exploitation sustaining this system, they face an impossible choice: serve the institution that gave them a future or destroy the machinery of imperial power. Blending dark academia, historical fantasy, and political intrigue, Babel examines the relationship between language and power, asking what is lost when cultures are translated, exploited, and controlled by those who rule.

A forgotten masterpiece. A disgraced writer. A mystery that spans continents and generations. In Paris in 2018, young Senegalese novelist Diégane Latyr Faye discovers a legendary 1938 novel by T.C. Elimane, an African writer once celebrated as the “Black Rimbaud” before a plagiarism scandal destroyed his reputation and drove him into obscurity. Fascinated, Diégane sets out to uncover the truth about Elimane’s disappearance, following a trail from Senegal to France and Argentina. His search leads him into the darker corners of literary history, where colonialism, cultural prejudice, and the politics of recognition determine whose voices are remembered and whose are erased. Blending literary mystery with historical investigation, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s acclaimed novel is both a meditation on the power of storytelling and a passionate tribute to literature’s ability to transcend borders. Winner of France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt, it asks who gets to define literary greatness—and what it costs to pursue it.

In late nineteenth-century Puerto Rico, seventeen-year-old Valentina Sánchez dreams of romance and a life beyond the expectations of her family. She marries Vicente Vega, a coffee farmer from the mountainous region of Utuado, hoping their love will bring happiness. But married life proves far more difficult than she imagined. Poverty, family tensions, and the struggle to keep their farm afloat threaten their future, while political upheaval transforms the island around them. Following the Spanish-American War and the devastating San Ciriaco hurricane of 1899, Puerto Rico comes under American rule, and the Vegas lose their livelihood. Promised prosperity, Vicente and Valentina join thousands of Puerto Ricans who migrate to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations. Instead of the fresh start they hoped for, they encounter harsh working conditions, exploitation, and broken promises. Spanning generations and continents, The Taste of Sugar traces one family’s struggle to survive amid colonial domination and economic injustice. Marisel Vera brings a neglected chapter of Puerto Rican history to life, exploring how love, family, and resilience endure when the promise of a better future comes at an extraordinary cost.

In The Yield, Tara June Winch tells the story of Albert Gondiwindi, an elderly Wiradjuri man determined to preserve his people’s language and cultural knowledge before he dies. When Albert passes away, his granddaughter August returns to her family’s home in rural New South Wales after spending ten years in England. Her homecoming brings her face-to-face with painful memories, including the disappearance of her older sister, Jedda, and the colonial history that has shaped her family’s life. August soon discovers that their ancestral home, Prosperous House, is threatened by a mining company seeking to take over the surrounding land. Determined to protect her family’s heritage, she searches for the dictionary Albert was compiling, a collection of Wiradjuri words and stories that preserves generations of knowledge. His work becomes a vital link to the past, helping August reconnect with her identity and understand the experiences of her ancestors. The novel unfolds through three interwoven narratives: August’s return, Albert’s dictionary, and the historical account of a missionary whose actions reveal the destructive effects of colonial intervention. Through these different perspectives, Winch explores the connections between language, land, memory, and belonging. The Yield is both a powerful examination of Indigenous dispossession and a celebration of cultural survival, showing how reclaiming language and storytelling can help restore what history has attempted to erase.

Set in the rural hinterlands of Bahia, Brazil, Crooked Plow follows Bibiana and Belonísia, two sisters growing up in a community of Black agricultural workers descended from enslaved people. Their lives change dramatically when, as children, they discover an old knife hidden beneath their grandmother’s bed. A sudden accident leaves one sister unable to speak, creating a bond between them that shapes their identities and futures. As the sisters grow older, their paths diverge. Bibiana leaves home and becomes increasingly aware of the social and political forces that keep her community trapped in poverty, while Belonísia remains closely connected to the land and the traditions of her ancestors. Through their experiences, the novel reveals the exploitation of rural workers who cultivate land they do not own, despite generations of labour and their deep ancestral ties to it. Blending social realism with magical elements and Afro-Brazilian spiritual traditions, Vieira Junior explores the enduring consequences of slavery, racial inequality, and land dispossession. The land itself becomes a source of both suffering and belonging, connecting the community to its history while providing the foundation for resistance. Through the sisters’ intertwined lives, the novel examines how people preserve their dignity, culture, and collective memory in the face of persistent injustice.

Nineteenth-century Madagascar is a kingdom on the brink of profound transformation. Tsito, a young boy enslaved after the destruction of his village, is taken to live in Sahasoa, where he develops a close bond with Fara, the daughter of his new master. As they grow older, their lives diverge: Tsito dreams of freedom, while Fara struggles with her family’s secrets and the restrictions placed upon her future. Their world is transformed by the arrival of British Christian missionaries and French industrialists, whose influence intensifies existing political and cultural tensions. As religious persecution and brutal royal purges spread across the kingdom, Tsito and Fara find themselves caught in a violent struggle over faith, power, and belonging. Through their intertwined stories, Naivo explores the legacy of slavery, the collision between Malagasy traditions and European influence, and the devastating consequences of political and religious intolerance.

Two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born in eighteenth-century Ghana, their lives divided by the forces of slavery and colonialism. Effia marries a British slave trader and lives in comfort above the dungeons of Cape Coast Castle, unaware that her sister Esi is imprisoned below before being sold into slavery in America. From the villages of Ghana to the plantations of the American South and the streets of modern Harlem, their descendants inherit the consequences of choices, violence, and histories they never experienced themselves. Spanning eight generations and three centuries, Homegoing is a powerful exploration of how slavery reshapes families, how trauma travels across generations, and how the past continues to influence the present.

When Egypt’s 2011 revolution brings millions into the streets demanding dignity, justice, and freedom, a diverse cast of Egyptians finds itself swept into a historic struggle. There are idealistic young activists, ambitious politicians, wealthy businessmen, religious conservatives, and ordinary citizens hoping for a better future. Yet as the revolution unfolds, the forces of money, military power, and religious authority begin to undermine its promises. Personal ambitions collide with political ideals, and those who once stood together discover how easily truth can be manipulated to preserve power. Through interconnected lives, Alaa Al Aswany captures the hope and disillusionment of a nation fighting to determine its future, exposing the mechanisms through which authoritarianism survives even when a revolution appears to have succeeded.

High in the mountains of Rwanda, an elite Catholic boarding school for girls stands isolated above the Nile, promising its students education, respectability, and protection from the outside world. But beneath its orderly routines, the school reflects the growing ethnic tensions and prejudices shaping Rwandan society in the years before the 1994 genocide. Admission quotas restrict the number of Tutsi students, leaving girls such as Veronica and Virginia vulnerable to discrimination and hostility from their Hutu classmates. As Gloriosa, the daughter of a powerful politician, spreads increasingly dangerous nationalist ideas, friendships fracture and everyday rivalries become entangled with political violence. The school, overseen by Belgian nuns, becomes a microcosm of a society moving toward catastrophe. Through the experiences of its teenage students, Scholastique Mukasonga explores how prejudice is taught, how colonial legacies shape identity, and how violence can take root in ordinary life long before it erupts into tragedy.

How do literature, culture, and politics shape the way we understand the world? And whose voices are missing from the stories history tells? The Selected Works of Edward Said brings together key writings from four decades of one of the most influential intellectuals of the twentieth century. Edited by Moustafa Bayoumi and Andrew Rubin, this expanded collection traces Said’s thinking across subjects ranging from colonialism and Palestinian identity to literature, music, media, and the responsibilities of intellectuals. Featuring selections from Orientalism, Culture and Imperialism, and Out of Place, alongside important essays and later writings, the collection offers an overview of Said’s evolving ideas about power, representation, and cultural identity. Essential for understanding Said’s intellectual legacy, this volume reveals how cultural narratives influence political realities—and why questioning dominant perspectives remains vital.

Set in a fantastical version of medieval Estonia, The Man Who Spoke Snakish follows Leemet, a boy growing up in the forest among the last people who preserve an ancient way of life. His people speak Snakish, a magical language that allows them to communicate with snakes and command animals. For generations, they have lived in close connection with nature, hunting for food and worshipping their ancestral spirits. But the forest is gradually emptying. More and more people abandon their traditional lives to settle in villages, embrace Christianity, and adopt the customs introduced by foreign conquerors. As the old language and its knowledge disappear, Leemet finds himself caught between a vanishing world and a new society that regards his people’s traditions as backward and obsolete. Combining dark humour, folklore, absurdity, and fantasy, Kivirähk creates an allegory about cultural assimilation and the loss of collective identity. The novel explores how conquest transforms not only political structures but also languages, relationships with nature, and people’s understanding of themselves. Through Leemet’s struggle to preserve his heritage, it asks what happens when an entire culture is dismissed as primitive—and whether traditions can survive when even their own people begin to abandon them.