Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway

I don't usually do book recommendations for adults, but this time I will make an exception.

I read Monique and the Mango Rains for a book club, quite by accident really. I got an email from my local alumni begging for a place to hold the meeting, so I offered. This meant I had to read the book. It was really serendipitous that it wasn't something like the Mermaid Chair, which I have no interest in. The story of a midwife in Mali and the young peace corps volunteer who became her friend and confidant appealed to my anthropological interests.

What makes this book special, compared with popular pseudo anthropological titles like The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, is that this is a story of a friendship as much as it is a ethnological account of a small Malian town and the local Bambara culture.

If you liked No.1 Ladies Detective Agency because you liked reading about the African world the characters inhabited, this is the book for you.