An African historical mystery for young readers

I’m excited to announce that my debut novel, The Song of Tiyya, is scheduled for release this spring. Written for ages 10 and up, it’s a spooky historical mystery set at the height of the Mali Empire in fourteenth-century West Africa. Below I’ll be sharing more about the novel and why I wrote it.

I’ve always loved historical fiction, especially the books that transported me to times and cultures different from our modern society. One of the best things about being a homeschool mom is sharing my favorite works of historical fiction with my kids. The literature-based homeschooling curriculum I founded uses these books to make history come alive for young learners.

But there was a gap in the literature that always troubled me: I wasn’t able to find any engaging fiction for young readers that was set in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa. This part of history has gotten short shrift in world history books as well, with some popular texts even stating inaccurately that little is known about premodern African history because they didn’t have writing.

The truth is that Africa had numerous wealthy, learned and advanced civilizations long before the arrival of Europeans. A case in point is the medieval empire of Mali, whose universities attracted scholars from three continents and whose libraries dwarfed the largest collections in Europe at the time.

The history of West Africa is a big part of America’s heritage. I wanted my kids to be able to “visit” an African civilization amid all its splendor, before the rise of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and European colonization. I wanted the book to be accurate and deeply researched, and also exciting to read.

The Song of Tiyya is suitable for advanced middle-grade readers and teens who are ready for complex language and worldbuilding, but not the romance or more mature content typical of young adult literature. The novel was inspired by my time living and working in West Africa during the early part of my career, where I lived with a family of fishermen in a Senegalese village, as well as extensive research into the history and anthropology of the Mande people.

In the book, an abandoned princess and an apprentice bard with stage fright team up to defeat a sorcerer's plot to usurp the throne of the Mali Empire. A more extensive plot summary is available here.

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