Be strong, my Abela. These are the last words of Abela's mother in their HIV/Aids stricken African village, where it seems that to live or to die, to be sick or to be healthy, is just a matter of chance. It takes all Abela's strength to survive her Uncle Thomas' scheming to get to Europe, but what will be her fate as an illegal immigrant? I don't want a sister or brother, thinks Rosa in England, when her mother tells her that she wants to adopt a child. Could these two girls ever become sisters? Is there room in Rosa's family for an African orphan haunted by lions? Is there room in their hearts? Based on true life from Carnegie award winning author.235pp, UK. ANDERSEN PRESS.

Chosen as a New York Times Notable Book when it was first published in 1991, this book collects a novella and six stories about Africa, particularly Ethiopia, and the lives of different women there. Isak Dinesen ... Rebecca West ... Gertrude Stein and Edith Wharton. To this company, in the tradition of Hemingway and others, and in many ways as brilliant as the best of them, we must now add Maria Thomas. (Marianne Wiggins, The New York Times Book Review). 242pp, USA. SOHO PRESS.

Though American, Dr. Antonia Redmond is African-born and has lived in East Africa for almost her entire life. With the end of colonialism, like all whites, she faces exile. Only the intercession of an influential lover preserves her visa, but should she leave, she will not be allowed to return. As the inevitable reckoning comes and the white population dwindles, she clings to the land to which she feels a deep connection. A complex, deeply-written and finely wrought double portrait of two women, one black, one white, picking their way through the debris of a shattered colonialism, discovering unexpected treasures buried in the rubble. Margaret Atwood. 296pp, USA. SOHO PRESS.

Last work by the author of 'In the Shadow of Kirinyaga' (Tsar Publications, Toronto, 2002, published in her adopted home, Tanzania, shortly after her death in September 2005. An affecting tale of confinement, love and the urge for freedom taking place during a sensitive and traumatic historical period. The protagonist, Nureen, is a Muslim woman of great spirits and personal independence, who experiences and survives the emotional turmoil of Indian inde-pendence, a transplanted upbringing in Africa, and an imposed arranged marriage to a Pakistani cousin. 342pp, TANZANIA. E&D LTD.

In this collection of fourteen short stories, originally published in 1987, acclaimed writer Maria Thomas vividly portrays the experiences of American expatriates in Africa, as well as the lives of ordinary Africans, from many points of view. 232pp, USA. SOHO PRESS.

The story of Ntanya, his hatred for his father, his return home and his progression from poverty to subsistence and marriage. 129pp, UK. HEINEMANN AFRICAN WRITERS SERIES.

1969 1968 0435900536 Paperback

The second edition is finally available. The objectives of the authors are twofold. First, to collect folk-tales, proverbs, and riddles from the Kagera Region of Tanzania. Second, to research traditional culture in the same region in order to depict family, social, religious and economic life in past centuries. 365pp. TANZANIA. MWOMBEKI & KAMANZI, 9976890893

1999 Paperback

A lyrical journal of the author's month on safari in the savannahs of East Africa, where Hemingway and his wife journeyed in December 1933. 200pp, UK. VINTAGE UK, 0099460955

This is a satirical story of two boys who mock adult society and the male ego. The author is a writer and journalist in Tanzania and East Africa. 239pp, TANZANIA. E&D LTD.

The English translation of the classic Tanzanian story previously only available in Kikerewe and Kiswahili. First published in 1945, it tells the story of an infertile couple who battle the odds to remain committed to one another in a polygamous society which prizes the bearing of children above all else. Translated, introduced by Gabriel Ruhumbika, who made use of the authors diaries and manuscripts to provide comprehensive explanatory notes to accompany the text. Notes, xxxi, 687pp, TANZANIA. MKUKI NA NYOTA PULISHING, 9976686382

Non-didactic novel dealing with gender politics from a local level. 224pp, TANZANIA. E & D LIMITED.

Hamisi is a poor fisherman living a village life on the coast of Tanzania. This is an imaginary story of his struggle with life’s injustices, conflict with the world around him, death, passage to heaven and dialogues with God. The story evolves into a series of poems. 207pp, TANZANIA. E&D LTD.

A collection of Hemingway's most famous stories including the Snows of Kilimanjaro, telling the story of a hunting tragedy on the snow capped peaks of the mountain. 137pp, UK. VINTAGE UK, 0099460920