Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness - Brossura

Fuller, Alexandra

Brossura

ISBN 10: 184983296X ISBN 13: 9781849832960

Casa editrice: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2012

Riassunto

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulnesstells the story of the author's mother, Nicola Fuller.

Nicola Fuller and her husband were a glamorous and optimistic couple and East Africa lay before them with the promise of all its perfect light, even as the British Empire in which they both believed waned. They had everything, including two golden children - a girl and a boy. However, life became increasingly difficult and they moved to Rhodesia to work as farm managers. The previous farm manager had committed suicide. His ghost appeared at the foot of their bed and seemed to be trying to warn them of something. Shortly after this, one of their golden children died. Africa was no longer the playground of Nicola's childhood. They returned to England where the author was born before they returned to Rhodesia and to the civil war.

The last part of the book sees the Fullers in their old age on a banana and fish farm in the Zambezi Valley. They had built their ramshackle dining room under the Tree of Forgetfulness. In local custom, this tree is the meeting place for villagers determined to resolve disputes. It is in the spirit of this Forgetfulness that Nicola finally forgot - but did not forgive - all her enemies including her daughter and the Apostle, a squatter who has taken up in her bananas with his seven wives and forty-nine children. Funny, tragic, terrifying, exotic and utterly unself-conscious, this is a story of survival and madness, love and war, passion and compassion.

Su questo libro

Recensione

'This is a life-affirming and altogether lovely book' The Spectator
'Fuller's portrait leaves us yearning for a peek at the next family reunion' Financial Times
'What a funny, harrowing, ultimately redemptive, book this is. It starts out in Nancy Mitford vein, plumbs Sophoclean depths of tragedy, then guides its readers back to peace and sanity. There will be no more compelling memoir published this year' Sunday Telegraph
'A tenderly observed portrait of her eccentric parents that combines candour with deep affection' Daily Telegraph

L'autore

Alexandra Fuller was born in England in 1969 and in 1972 she moved with her family to a farm in Rhodesia. After the civil war there in 1981, the Fullers moved first to Malawi, then to Zambia. She now lives in Wyoming and has three children.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 184983296X
• ISBN 13: 9781849832960
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 256
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile