Starting from 1797, Maryse Condé's epic historical novel Segu traverses many decades, following the lives of one noble family. Segu was once the capital of the kingdom of Bambara, which was in present-day Mali. In her afterword, Condé thanks numerous colleagues for helping make sure 'this fiction doesn't take too many liberties with the facts'. From this, we can assume it's based on real events.

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We start with the patriarch of the Traore family, Dousika. He is the King's most trusted adviser, but the kingdom as they know it is about to be shaken. Change is on the horizon, mainly in the form of religion, but also the slave trade and colonialism. Condé takes on a huge number of themes within this book, and it can get very heavy at times. However, her writing, and the translation by Barbara Bray, is rich and detailed, exactly the kind of immersive prose you want for historical fiction.

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I learned a lot about the way Christianity and Islam were introduced to the African continent. There were lots of quotes that stuck out, but one in particular: ‘To civilize Africa by converting it to Christianity. But what did that mean? Didn’t every people have its own civilization, subtended by its belief in its own gods? What was converting Africa to Christianity but imposing another civilisation on it?’

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There was another part where one of the characters ends up in London for a short while. He remarks how people from Africa are regarded as the 'uncivilised' ones, yet the white people in London act grotesquely towards him, touching his hair, rubbing his skin. 'Was this the behaviour of civilised people?' he wonders.

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It's not an easy read in terms of content. There's a lot of rape within these pages, which weighs heavily on the reader, and there’s a lot of detail overall. But it's one that I definitely appreciated and I'm glad I finally read it! It's one of those books I'd have loved to study at university, to properly grasp everything Condé is putting out there.