BN Book of the Month: The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

Remember that old saying that if you want to hide something from a black man you should put it in a book? Well, we all know now that that one is just rubbish. We love to read!

And publishing in Africa has begun to thrive, publishers pumping out book after book. Our reading culture has gone through the roof, with book clubs meeting in bars and even on social media every weekend.

To make sure some books don’t fly below your radar, to point you toward the right direction, BellaNaija will be bringing one to your notice every month.

This month of May, we’ve selected The Old Drift, the multi-generational novel by Zambian writer Namwali Serpell, as our Book of the Month.

Magical realism meets historical fiction meets science fiction. The Old Drift serves a delightful dish that spans across the lives of three families intertwined across generations. Namwali Serpell tells a great Zambian story with diverse characters using blended genres, and this is why The Old Drift is the BN Book of The Month.

The Old Drift is one of the 1o books on our 2019 must read list and we can’t wait to read more.

Namwali Serpell won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2015.

Catch up on all our previous BN Books of the Month since January here.