Darkest England

Vorwort
A South African bushman is sent on a mission to visit the Queen of England to remind her of her grandmother Victoria's pledge to protect his people from harm - a perilous journey indeed among the hostile, uncivilized natives in this cold, sodden land.

Autorentext
Christopher Hope was born in Johannesburg in 1944. He is the author of nine novels and one collection of short stories, including Kruger's Alp, which won the Whitbread Prize for Fiction, Serenity House, which was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize, and My Mother's Lovers, published by Atlantic Books in 2006 to great acclaim. He is also a poet and playwright and author of the celebrated memoir White Boy Running (1988).

Klappentext

'Where there's life there's Christopher Hope' Victoria Glendinning, Daily Telegraph

David Mungo Booi is a descendant of the Bushmen who once lived in the distant African Karoo. Chosen by a conclave of elders, travelling on funds raised by public subscription, sponsored by the Society for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of England, Booi embarks on a mission never before attempted by a civilized man: to explore England as a site suitable for settlement and to assess if the natives are friendly and capable. A perilous journey indeed among the hostile, uncivilized natives in this cold, sodden land.

He sets out to answer ancient questions about this strange island race: why do they believe there will always be an England? Did they build Jerusalem in their green and pleasant land? David Booi's epic journey takes him from prison to Parliament, from asylum to Palace. Battling each step of the way against treachery, cruelty, superstition and disease, his English notebooks tell of an exploration as heroic as any African safari and a good deal darker.

'Hilarious... The comedy explodes in the gap between Booi's misunderstanding, based on gentlemanly and naïve idealism, and the reader's inside knowledge of the true state of affairs.' Michèle Roberts, Independent

'A contemporary satire with the brio and bite of, say, early Evelyn Waugh is a rare and wonderful event. Darkest England... is a remarkable novel.' Robert Taylor, Boston Globe

'A courageous, witty and meticulous writer' Eric Korn, TLS

Fiction
£9.99

www.atlantic-books.co.uk

Zusammenfassung

David Mungo Booi is a descendant of the Bushmen who once lived in the distant African Karoo. Chosen by a conclave of elders, travelling on funds raised by public subscription, sponsored by the Society for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of England, Booi embarks on a mission never before attempted by a civilized man: to explore England as a site suitable for settlement and to assess if the natives are friendly and capable...

He sets out to answer ancient questions about this strange island race: why do they believe there will always be an England? Did they build Jerusalem in their green and pleasant land? David Booi's epic journey takes him from prison to Parliament, from asylum to Palace. Battling each step of the way against treachery, cruelty, superstition and disease, his English notebooks tell of an exploration as heroic as any African safari and a good deal darker.