The 2024 notable books list features a lot of women writers or stories about women. Women resist oppression in their daily lives. They seek the power to change their worlds. They desire and navigate identities that come with all kinds of realities. This year, we selected books that explore these aspects of women’s lives. We chose books that take up issues that might seem unpopular. We included page-turning stories with drama, beautiful writing, and characters you’ll be thinking about long after the last page. If you haven’t seen the full list of 100 Notable African Books of 2024, go here. Or start by exploring this list of 12 books that show women at their boldest and most beautiful.

If you’re looking for badly behaved women who refuse to stay in their lane, start with A Mouth Full of Salt, Reem Gaafar’s debut novel that won the Island Manuscript Prize for African Writing. The story begins with a boy mysteriously drowning in the Nile, while whispers of a wandering sorceress may—or may not—hold the key to the mystery.

Other books reclaim and celebrate women’s histories. In Scholastique Mukasonga’s Sister Deborah, colonial records describe Sister Deborah as a “pathogen,” but Ikirezi, who experienced her healing powers, believes there’s more to the mystery of her legacy. Rama Santa Mansa’s Portrait of Lysbeth takes us to 1676 New York, where Lysbeth Luanda, an African freedwoman and coroner, investigates a string of murders in Sleepy Hollow while navigating survival under oppressive laws and a chilling mystery.

Then there are books built entirely on women desiring. Safia Elhillo’s Bright Red Fruit follows Samira, a young Sudanese woman caught in a relationship that awakens new desires but threatens to unravel her carefully constructed life. Sulaiman Addonia’s The Seers is essentially one long, extended sex-scene where an Ethiopian-Eritrean refugee reflects on her life during a transformative encounter in a London park. Olumide Popoola’s Like Water Like Sea spans two decades, following Nia, a queer naturopath in London, as she navigates love, loss, and the lasting impact of her sister’s death.

Friendships and solidarity are in so many powerful stories about women’s lives. Aiwanose Odafen’s We Were Girls Once tells the story of three women confronting shared trauma in a fractured Nigeria. In The Weavers of Alamaxa by Hadeer Elsbai, two magical weavers reunite to fight patriarchal forces threatening their homeland.

Social media has sparked countless conversations about body image, and this year’s list includes books that address the topic. Damilare Kuku’s Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow is a story about a Nigerian womam wanting body augmentation. Kuku uses humor to ask uncomfortable questions about body image. Dzifa Benson’s Monster is a poetic exploration of the female body as both a site of oppression and resilience.

For inspiration, consider stories about women defying the odds. Chioma Okereke’s Water Baby tells the story of a young woman rising from Makoko, the “floating” slums of Lagos, to global recognition. Jacqueline Asiimwe’s Facing Mountains recounts her journey from a childhood in Uganda to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. With wit and grace, she reflects on resilience through every climb, stumble, and step forward.

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