cover image Segu

Segu

Maryse Conde. Ballantine Books, $27 (512pp) ISBN 978-0-345-35306-1

This family saga is set in the warlike kingdom of Segu (roughly present-day Mali) in the late 19th century. Conde is a born storyteller, commented PW, but the novel's ""cumulative effect is marred . . . by such a bewildering array of characters and such a density of cultural detail that the storyline becomes both sluggish and hard to follow.'' (May)