James Mustich recommends this in his 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die for fans of Life of Pi. From the publisher: "Azaro is a spirit child, an abiku, existing, according to the African tradition, between life and death. Born into the human world, he must experience its joys and tragedies. His spirit companions come to him often, hounding him to leave his mortal world and join them in their idyllic one. Azaro foresees a trying life ahead, but he is born smiling. A transformative story for all ages and all times, it means many things to many people. Few contemporary novels have aroused as much passion as this one."

The publisher says of this political fiction from the author of the Booker Prize–winning The Famished Road: "In a world uncomfortably like our own, a young woman called Amalantis is arrested for asking a question. Her question is this: Who is the Prisoner? When Amalantis disappears, her lover Karnak goes looking for her. He searches desperately at first, then with a growing realization that to find Amalantis, he must first understand the meaning of her question. Karnak’s search leads him into a terrifying world of deception, oppression, and fear at the heart of which lies the prison. Then Karnak discovers that he is not the only one looking for the truth."