No Sweetness Here

In this collection of short stories, Aidoo elevates the mundane in women's lives to an intellectual level in an attempt at challenging patriarchal structures and dominance in African society.

Presents a collection of short works featuring sympathetic protagonists whose inherent sensitivities render them particularly vulnerable to unexpected events.

Essential...this distinctive series presents 120 southern African texts that are rich, evocative. -- Library Journal

A beginners' guide to the fundamentals of the Dru meditation technique, a method for soothing the mind and relaxing the emotions. The programme includes six short guided meditations designed to instill a sense of profound stillness, quieten and calm a stressed mind and reconnect with the important aspects of life. Each nine-minute meditations is based on one of the elements: Earth, Water, Light, Air and Sky.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2006 in the subject African Studies - Literature, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University (Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences Dhar El Mahraz Fès), language: English, abstract: Ama Ata Aidoo’s "No Sweetness Here and Other Short Stories" is a collection of eleven short stories. In it, Aidoo portrays the influence and effect of the post-colonial impact on Africa, culturally, economically and politically. These stories are created independently of each other. However there are several thematic features that create a connection between them. Among others, the most important are their focus on female characters, although male characters are also present and play an important role. Aidoo also demonstrates the disillusionment that came out of the failure of the national struggle after independence. In her short stories, Aidoo’s primary concern is to focus on the condition of women in the historical period covering the Ghanaian post-independence. Aidoo portrays these women, living in very poor conditions in the rural and urban sections of the country. They are trying to improve their lives through various precarious jobs. Aidoo also demonstrates the corruption and greed of the national bourgeoisie, in variably showing through her female characters, the strength, honesty and fight for an honest living. An additional common feature between these stories is related to the theme of alienation; the alienation between men and women, the sense of alienation experienced in the city by those who leave their village to visit it, but mostly the alienation created by the African characters’ obsession with coming up to western standards of modernity.

In this complex and emotionally resonant novel about a Métis girl living on the Canadian prairies, debut author Jen Ferguson serves up a powerful story about rage, secrets, and all the spectrums that make up a person—and the sweetness that can still live alongside the bitterest truth. A William C. Morris Award Honor Book and a Stonewall Award Honor Book! Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She’ll be working in her family’s ice-cream shack with her newly ex-boyfriend—whose kisses never made her feel desire, only discomfort—and her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago without a word. But when she gets a letter from her biological father—a man she hoped would stay behind bars for the rest of his life—Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him, no matter how much he insists. While King’s friendship makes Lou feel safer and warmer than she would have thought possible, when her family’s business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can’t ignore her father forever. The Heartdrum imprint centers a wide range of intertribal voices, visions, and stories while welcoming all young readers, with an emphasis on the present and future of Indian Country and on the strength of young Native heroes. In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 BOOKER PRIZE AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 2021, OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK AND BARACK OBAMA SELECTION 'A fine, lyrical novel, impressive in its complex interweaving of the grand and the intimate, of the personal and political' Observer Landry and Prentiss are two brothers born into slavery, finally freed as the American Civil War draws to its bitter close. Cast into the world without a penny to their names, their only hope is to find work in a society that still views them with nothing but intolerance. Farmer George Walker and his wife Isabelle are reeling from a loss that has shaken them to their core. After a chance encounter, they agree to employ the brothers on their land, and slowly the tentative bonds of trust begin to blossom between the strangers. But this sanctuary survives on a knife's edge, and it isn't long before a tragedy causes the inhabitants of the nearby town to turn their suspicion onto these new friendships, with devastating consequences. '[A] highly accomplished debut' Sunday Times Readers have been swept away by The Sweetness of Water: 'Such a powerful, magnificent book; I urge you to read it. The comparisons with Colson Whitehead are justified' ***** 'A staggering debut and a story that stays with you' ***** 'Thought-provoking and moving . . . a gripping and compelling novel that exposes flaws, mixed emotions and imperfect relationships, and yet it holds on with determination and hope. It fully deserves a 5-star rating' ***** 'Outstanding . . . A book that deserves widespread recognition and a wide audience' *****

A Commonwealth Prize–winning novel of “intense power . . . examining the role of women in modern African society” by the acclaimed Ghanaian author (Publishers Weekly). Living in Ghana’s capital city of Accra with a postgraduate degree and a career in data analysis, Esi Sekyi is a thoroughly modern African woman. Perhaps that is why she decides to divorce her husband after enduring yet another morning’s marital rape. Though her friends and family are baffled by her decision (after all, he doesn’t beat her!), Esi holds fast. When she falls in love with a married man—wealthy, and able to arrange a polygamous marriage—the modern woman finds herself trapped in a new set of problems. Witty and compelling, Aidoo’s novel, according to Manthia Diawara, “inaugurates a new realist style in African literature.” In an afterword to this edition, Tuzyline Jita Allan “places Aidoo’s work in a historical context and helps introduce this remarkable writer [who] sheds light on women’s problems around the globe” (Publishers Weekly).