Segu

A stunning reaffirmation of Africa and its peoples... It's a starburst

John A. Williams

Condé's story is rich and colorful and glorious. It sprawls over continents and centuries to find its way into the reader's heart

Maya Angelou

Richly textured and detailed, this narrative, alternating between the lives of various characters, illuminates magnificently a little known historical period. Virtually every page glitters with nuggets of cultural fascination

Howard Kaplan, Los Angeles Times

A wondrous novel about a period of African history few other writers have addressed

Charles L. Larson, New York Times Book Review

If there were no tools on a desert island, I would take Segu by Maryse Condé. This generational family saga has so many layers that I can read and reread it, in between figuring out how to build a raft

Chibundu Onuzo, Time Out

The grand queen, the empress, of Caribbean literature

Fiammetta Rocco, Guardian

Maryse Condé is an extraordinary storyteller who brings the history of an African kingdom alive as vividly as if it existed today. Suspenseful, shocking, panoramic and hugely engrossing, the novel explores the politics and impact of external and domestic forces on nineteenth century west Africa through wonderfully realised characters and their complicated relationships. This is a great novel: unputdownable and unforgettable

Bernardine Evaristo