Segu - Maryse Conde

Conde depicts the Bambara of 1797, a kingdom in Africa flourishing before thecoming of Islam and slavery. The tale follows the Traore family, a noble clanentrusted by the king. The four Traore sons embody the contemporaneous forcestearing at the very fabric of the nation. \nA wondrous novel (New York Times) by the winner of the 2018 Alternative Nobel prize in literature (the New Academy Prize) \nThe year is 1797, and the kingdom of Segu is flourishing, fed by the wealth of its noblemen and the power of its warriors. The people of Segu, the Bambara, are guided by their griots and priests; their lives are ruled by the elements. But even their soothsayers can only hint at the changes to come, for the battle of the soul of Africa has begun. From the east comes a new religion, Islam, and from the West, the slave trade.\n \nSegu follows the life of Dousika Traore, the king's most trusted advisor, and his four sons, whose fates embody the forces tearing at the fabric of the nation. There is Tiekoro, who renounces his people's religion and embraces Islam; Siga, who defends tradition, but becomes a merchant; Naba, who is kidnapped by slave traders; and Malobali, who becomes a mercenary and halfhearted Christian.\n \nBased on actual events, Segu transports the reader to a fascinating time in history, capturing the earthy spirituality, religious fervor, and violent nature of a people and a growing nation trying to cope with jihads, national rivalries, racism, amid the vagaries of commerce.\n