I say this a lot; I like it when I’m reading a book and events feel so real. It doesn’t even have to be a genre that bites deep into reality but I want to feel when I read a book. No wonder it is often said that the best books are those that can move us. Without further ado here are 7 amazing piece of literature based on real life events.
1. THE NICKEL BOYS
Named one of TIME‘s best books of the decade, The Nickel Boys is based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped after an investigation exposed numerous abuses of how it destroyed the lives of thousands of children. The Nickel boys is a devastating and heart-wrenching story about perseverance dignity and redemption.
2. UNBELIEVABLE
Previously published as A False Report it tells the riveting true crime story of a teenager charged with lying about having been raped—and the detectives who following a spate of similar crimes arrive at the truth.
Unbelievable is a serpentine tale of doubt, a hunt for justice as well as the long history of scepticism towards rape victims.
3. WOMAN AT POINT ZERO
This book is based on the result of the author’s meeting with a female prisoner in Qanatir Prison. This prisoner who was a murderer agreed to tell her life story before her execution. The novel explores the themes of women and their place within a patriarchal society.
4. A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS
A Brief History of Seven Killings is based in part on the real-life story of the Shower Posse, who began their rise in early-’60s Kingston and spread to America, where, by the 1980s, they controlled much of the crack trade in New York and Miami. The book is also based on the real-life assassination attempt on Bob Marley.
5. MOTHER TO MOTHER
Mother to Mother is based on the real events from 1993 peaking in Amy Biehl’s death in Cape Town’s Gugulethu. In response to the real-life death of Amy Biehl, Sindiwe Magona’s Mother to Motheris an epistolary historical fiction novel written from the point of view of the mother of the boy who killed Amy Biehl (in real life, this was Magona’s neighbour in Capetown). The recipient of the letter is Amy Biehl’s mother, which explains the title. The novel is the explanation of why such violence existed in South Africa such that Amy Biehl could be murdered, written from one mother to another.
6. BURIED BENEATH THE BAOBAB TREE
Based on interviews with young women who were abducted by Boko Haram, this poignant novel by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani tells the timely story of a girl who was kidnapped from her home in Nigeria and her harrowing fight for survival.
7. YELLOW WIFE
Yellow Wife is based on the true story of Robert Lumpkin, a notorious jailer who owned a holding pen and “breaking” centre for more than 300,000 enslaved people from 1844 – 1865. Lumpkin was so well known for his cruelty that the jail was known as the “Devil’s Half Acre,” and he “the Bully Trader.” In his work, he came to meet and marry his own “yellow wife”, a mixed-race slave-woman named Mary who bore him five children.
STHA 