What to read next? The author of Half Of A Yellow Sun – Service95 Book Club’s August Monthly Read – shares her recommended books on the topic of war and conflict.
Passport Number F.47927 – Muthoni Likimani
This incredibly insightful book outlines the events that lead to the Mau Mau rebellion in 1950s Kenya and explores the role women played in the African nationalist movement. A must-read.
The Beautiful Mrs Seidenman – Andrzej Szczypiorski
The Beautiful Mrs Seidenman transports us to Nazi-occupied Poland where a young Jewish woman, equipped with false papers, passes as the wife of a Polish officer – until an informer recognises her. A suspenseful, unsentimental story of the days that follow her arrest, this book is magnificent.
Anil’s Ghost – Michael Ondaatje
A wondrous look at how modern Sri Lanka is haunted by its brutal civil war, Anil’s Ghost tells the story of a forensic anthropologist born in Sri Lanka but educated in the West, who is sent by a human rights group to identify the victims of the massacres and counter-massacres across her home country.
A Boy In Winter – Rachel Seiffert
Just weeks after the German invasion of Ukraine, a small town is overrun by the SS. Deft. Centring the human experience and survival in the face of Nazi atrocities, Seiffert’s novel gives an account of the three days that follow.
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien
A series of original short stories about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried has the accumulative authority of a novel, with recurring characters and intertwined plots. While Vietnam is central, it is not just a book about war, it is also about the trauma that follows.
Salt Houses – Hala Alyan
Where do you go when you can’t go home? Salt Houses tells the story of Alia, who gets caught up in the resistance after the Six-Day War in 1967 and moves from Palestine to Kuwait. When Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait, she and her family lose their home yet again. Alia’s children disperse to Beirut, Paris and Boston, and once more must navigate the highs and lows of starting over.
