Nathan Price, a rigid evangelical Baptist, moves his wife Orleanna and their four daughters from Georgia to the Belgian Congo in 1959. He intends to forcefully convert the residents of Kilanga, ignoring local customs, physical dangers, and the region's shifting political landscape. The narrative alternates between the five women, who witness the Congo’s violent transition to independence and the rise of Mobutu Sese Seko. As the family faces famine, malaria, and a lethal green mamba, their domestic structure disintegrates under Nathan’s fanaticism and the realities of post-colonial upheaval.
Readers of historical fiction and post-colonial literature find here a study of how cultural arrogance dictates the failure of Western intervention. Those interested in the intersection of religion and politics see the logistical consequences of imposing foreign systems on indigenous environments. The reader finishes the book with a technical understanding of the 1960 Congolese crisis and a perspective on how guilt shapes the lifelong trajectories of four different women who survived the same tragedy.
Deep, contemplative and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1998
- Language
- EN
