Multicultural Fiction ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1
From Many Cultures
Fiction set in countries other than the United States or
Europe from the point of view of the citizens of the
country.
Africa
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This novel re-creates the 1960s struggle of Biafra to
establish an independent republic in Nigeria, following
the intertwined lives of the characters through a military
coup, the Biafran secession, and the resulting civil war.
Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
Their fortune threatened by shifting powers in Sudan and
their heir's debilitating accident, a powerful family under
the leadership of Mahmoud Bey is torn between the
traditional and modern values of Mahmoud's two wives
and his son's efforts to break with cultural limits.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Traces the growing friction between village leaders and
Europeans determined to save the heathen souls of
Africa. But its hero, a noble man who is driven by
destructive forces, speaks a universal tongue.
White dog Fell From the Sky by Eleanor Morse
An intimate portrait of 1970s Botswana is told through
the intertwined stories of three people including a
medical student who is forced to flee apartheid South
Africa after witnessing a murder and an American Ph.D.
student who abandons her studies to follow her husband
to Africa.
Asia
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Toru Watanabe, a quiet and preternaturally serious
young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a
beautiful and introspective young woman, but their
mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best
friend years before.
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Follows a close-knit but oft-separated Afghan family
through love, wars, and losses more painful than death.
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the
exact moment of India's independence, Saleem Sinai
becomes inextricably linked to that of his nation and is a
whirlwind of disasters and triumphs that mirror modern
India's course.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, two boys are sent
to the country for reeducation, where their lives take an
unexpected turn when they meet the beautiful daughter
of a local tailor and stumble upon a forbidden stash of
Western literature.
A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama
A powerful novel about an ordinary family facing
extraordinary times at the start of the Chinese Cultural
Revolution.
Australia
Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi
The sudden and unexpected death of a renowned
surgeon in Ghana has rippling repercussions on his family,
both from his first marriage and his second, as truths are
uncovered and betrayals are exposed, ultimately bringing
everyone closer together.
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
An eye-opening tale of the settlement of New South
Wales by a population of exiled British criminals.
CT 06/13
Multicultural Fiction ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2
Middle East
Snow by Orhan Pamuk
After years of lonely political exile, Turkish poet Ka
returns to Istanbul to attend his mother's funeral and
learns about a series of suicides among pious girls
forbidden to wear headscarves.
King of Cuba by Cristina Garcia
A tale told from the alternating viewpoints of an aging
Castro-like dictator and a Miami exile obsessed with
avenging himself against the dictator for personal
betrayals traces the impact of a six-decade revolution on
their lives and a homeland that has paid the price of
constant violence.
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
A lively story of an Istanbul family whose mixed up
heritage mirrors the complexity of Turkish society.
The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
Returning to her native Dominican Republic, forty-nineyear-old Urania Cabral discovers that Rafael Trujillo, the
depraved dictator called "the Goat," still reigns over his
inner circle, which includes Urania's father, with brutality
and blackmail.
The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
Their serene villa life devastated by a wrongful
imprisonment, the wife and children of Tehran gentleman
Isaac Amin face potential betrayals within their own
household and eventually plan a dangerous escape.
Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende
To escape a life of drugs, crime and prostitution,
nineteen-year-old Maya Vidal flees California to a remote
island off the west coast of Chile.
Latin America
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia
Marquez
Tells the story of the Buendia family, set against the
background of the evolution and eventual decadence of a
small South American town.
In The Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez
Set during the waning days of the Trujillo dictatorship in
the Dominican Republic in 1960, this extraordinary novel
tells the story the Mirabal sisters, three young wives and
mothers who are assassinated after visiting their jailed
husbands.
Perla by Carolina De Robertis
A coming-of-age tale set in post-dictatorship Buenos Aires
finds privileged Perla safeguarding the interests of her
family by hiding her beloved father's military past from
others until an uninvited visitor forces her to confront the
unease she has suppressed her entire life.
CT 06/13