By Yolanda Marshall

Now that the kids are back in school and the fall season is approaching, here are a few new novels to cozy up with.

A Good Indian Girl: A Novel

Written by Mansi Shah

“From a Canadian-born, LA-based author, a fun, heartfelt and thought-provoking novel that is One Italian Summer meets Balli Kaur Jaswal, about a disgraced Indian-American divorcee and former chef who spends a summer in Italy, reconnecting with her passion for cooking and reckoning with cultural expectations to make a life-changing decision. Jyoti has always been the ideal second-generation Indian daughter. She stayed out of trouble, looked after her younger sisters and married a man her parents approved. So when her husband, Ashok, forces her to quit her dream job as head chef of his family’s restaurant to focus on starting a family, she obliges. But despite Jyoti’s tireless efforts to have children, when it becomes clear that she cannot carry a baby to term, Ashok leaves her for a younger woman. Jyoti’s new status as an unemployed divorcee is a disgrace to her traditional Gujarati family, and she flees New York to visit her best friend in Tuscany.”- HarperCollins Canada, 2024.

I Never Said That I Was Brave

Written by Tasneem Jamal

“Set between the 1970s and 2010, I Never Said That I Was Brave examines the complicated relationship between two women navigating a culture vastly different from their parents’. Motivated by guilt and confusion, the unnamed narrator recounts the shifting dynamics of her lifelong friendship with Miriam, a charismatic astrophysicist who focuses on dark matter. As childhood immigrants to Canada from Uganda, the girls can assimilate (though not always quickly). In adulthood, they chafe against the deeply held traditions and expectations of their South Asian community and their own internalised beliefs about women.” – House of Anansi Press, 2024.

Born in a House of Glass

Written by Chinenye Emezie

“Udonwa’s family is at war — a war of relationships played out under the tyranny of a monster dad. At age twelve, Udonwa has a peculiar love for her father, Reverend Leonard Ilechukwu, who favours her but beats his wife and his other children. She sees his good side: after all, he pays the school fees and tells her that she, named “the peaceful child,” is most likely to become a doctor.

When her newly married eldest sister suddenly takes her from their family compound in Iruama, Nigeria, to live with her in Awka, Udonwa experiences violence first-hand. Later, pieces of a sinister picture emerge that shake her life to the core.” – Dundurn Press, 2024.

The War You Don’t Hate

Written by Blaise Ndala

“In Blaise Ndala’s magnificent second novel, originally published as Sans Capote Ni Kalachnikov in 2017, the paths of a Canadian documentary filmmaker and two former rebel soldiers from the Congo collide in this searing revenge tale about those who profit from the misery of others. Los Angeles, 2002. Véronique Quesnel accepts the Best Documentary Oscar for “Sona: Rape and Terror in the Heart of Darkness”, basking in the praise of her privileged audience. She has drawn attention to “the centre of gravity that is a Black tragedy”, which attracted her away from her life in Montreal, and to the harrowing story of Sona, a young woman who escaped sex slavery. But this lauded film has also shone a dangerous spotlight on Véronique herself. In the Great Lakes region of Africa, Master Corporal Red Ant and his cousin Baby Che are stalking the remnants of the Second Congo War – the deadliest conflict since World War II. In search of truth and vengeance, their obsession now has a name.” – Vehicule Press, 2024.

Pride and Joy: A Novel

Written by Louisa Onomé

“Joy Okafor is overwhelmed. The recently divorced life coach whose phone won’t stop ringing is also the dutiful Nigerian daughter who has planned every aspect of her mother’s seventieth birthday weekend on her own. As the Okafors slowly begin to arrive, Mama Mary goes to take a nap. But when the grandkids try to wake her, they find that she isn’t sleeping after all. Refusing to believe that her sister is gone, Auntie Nancy declares that she has had a premonition: Mama Mary will rise again like Jesus Christ himself on Easter Sunday. Desperate to believe that they’re about to witness a miracle, the family overhauls their birthday plans to welcome the Nigerian Canadian community and the host of AJAfrika TV to help spread the word that Mama Mary is coming back. But sceptical Joy is struggling to deal with the loss of her mother and not allowing herself to mourn just yet while going through the motions of planning a funeral that her aunt refuses to allow.” – HarperCollins, 2024.Please support local bookstores, such as A Different Booklist, Nile Valley Books and Knowledge Bookstore.