Books like Agaat by Marlene Van Niekerk

In 17th‑century Delft, Griet, a quiet servant, enters the Vermeer household and finds herself entwined in its domestic intrigues, gradually becoming the painter’s assistant and a painted model.

A Fine Balance is Rohinton Mistry's critically acclaimed second novel, set in India in the mid-1970s and focusing on four unlikely individuals who come together in a city apartment during a state of emergency.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles follows Tess Durbeyfield, a rural woman from a poor family, as she confronts poverty, social injustice, and the rigid expectations of early 20th-century English society.

After the Russian revolution, Countess Anna flees to England and hides her aristocratic past by working as a servant for the Westerholme family, where love and secrecy collide amid a tale of class and courtship.

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Stephanie Land’s memoir chronicles her descent into poverty and her determined climb back, offering a candid view of the hardships faced by single mothers in modern America.

Swiss woman Corinne Hofmann travels to Kenya, falls in love with a Maasai warrior, marries him, and makes his homeland her own.

"Ever since Nelson Mandela dramatically walked out of prison in 1990 after twenty-seven years behind bars, South Africa has been undergoing a radical transformation. In one of the most miraculous events of the century, the oppressive system of apartheid was dismantled. But how could this country - one of spectacular beauty and promise - come to terms with its ugly past? How could its people, whom the oppressive white government had pitted against one another, live side by side as friends and neighbors?"--BOOK JACKET. "To begin the healing process, Nelson Mandela created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by the renowned cleric Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Established in 1995, the commission faced the awesome task of hearing the testimony of the victims of apartheid as well as the oppressors. In this book, Antjie Krog, a South African journalist and poet who has covered the work of the commission, recounts the drama, the horrors, the wrenching personal stories of the victims and their families. Through the testimonies of victims of abuse and violence, from the appearance of Winnie Mandela to former South African president P. W. Botha's extraordinary courthouse press conference, this award-winning poet leads us on an amazing journey."--BOOK JACKET.

Set in a South African village, Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness weaves past and present as a prophetess’s failed 19th‑century vision clashes with modern plans for a casino, drawing a returning exile into a fractured community and a love triangle.

Par une romancière sud-africaine de talent, une plongée dans l'enfer quotidien - violence et suspicion - du racisme. L'héroïne est la fille d'un médecin blanc, condamné à la prison à vie, pour avoir organisé la lutte politique contre l'apartheid.

Victorian detective Charles Lenox is drawn from his quiet study to investigate the suspicious death of a former servant in London, where a rare poison may have hidden a murder beneath an apparent suicide.

Joy Adamson’s biography tells how she raised the lioness Elsa, taught her to hunt, and released her back into the wild of Kenya, exploring deep human‑animal bonds and the ethics of wildlife rehabilitation.

Jo Baker’s novel re‑imagines Jane Austen’s world by turning the servants of Longbourn estate into the focus, following housemaid Sarah as she challenges her social limits amid a militia’s arrival and a mysterious footman.