1992–2001
The nineties ushered in the age of the Internet. The beginnings of social media and globalisation led to a new world of relative prosperity. With the end of Apartheid, South Africa returned to the Commonwealth in 1994. Cameroon and Mozambique joined the Commonwealth in 1995, the latter becoming the first country to join without any constitutional ties to an existing member. In 1998, the Commonwealth Games were hosted in Kuala Lumpa, the first to be held in Asia.
Questions for your reading group
- With the decade being defined by so much new technology, why do you think many of the writers of books selected in this period decided to look backwards in setting their book? Why did they choose that period of history?
- How does social inequality affect the characters in your book(s)?
- In some of the books in this decade, animals play an important role. What do you they represent or symbolise?
- How do secrets affect the characters’ relationships in your text(s)?
- How does power manifest in your book(s) and is it always a problematic force?
- How does political conflict affect the motivations of characters in your book(s)?
- As the world became more connected in this decade, how does your book handle characters being away from their homes?
- What other books published between 1992-01 would you recommend?