Out of Darkness, Shining Light

Review A fine writer and a rising star of Zimbabwean literature. -- J.M. Coetzee Engrossing, beautiful and deeply imaginative ... A masterful writer. -- Yaa Gyasi A powerful novel, beautifully told. -- Jesmyn Ward A wise and funny novel ... Wonderful ... A spirited, illuminating take on a story I thought I knew, but did not know at all. ― The Times Captivating . [An] ambitious, meticulously researched work. ― Guardian Mixing painstaking research with a formidable imagination ... This is a beautiful novel. -- Anthony Doerr Product Description Prize-winning author Petina Gappah's tale of Dr Livingstone's epic journey through nineteenth-century Africa is 'incredible' (Yaa Gyasi), 'powerful' (Jesmyn Ward), and 'beautiful' (Anthony Doerr). 'A fine writer.' J.M. Coetzee 'Wonderful.' The Times 'Captivating.' Guardian This is the story of the body of Bwana Daudi, the Doctor, the explorer David Livingstone - and the sixty-nine men and women who carried his remains for 1,500 miles across the African interior so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own country. This is the story of those in the shadows of history: those who saved a white man's bones, his dark companions, who became his faithful retinue on an epic funeral march - little knowing that his corpse carried the maps that sowed the seeds of the continent's brutal colonisation and enslavement. This is the story of how human bravery, loyalty, and love can triumph over darkness - and it is Petina Gappah's radical masterpiece. 'Incredible.' Yaa Gyasi 'Beautiful.' Anthony Doerr 'Powerful.' Jesmyn Ward Book Description Prize-winning author Petina Gappah's tale of Dr Livingstone's epic journey through nineteenth-century Africa is 'incredible' (Yaa Gyasi), 'powerful' (Jesmyn Ward), and 'beautiful' (Anthony Doerr). About the Author Petina Gappah is an international lawyer and writer who was born in Kitwe, Zambia and raised in Zimbabwe. She is the author of An Elegy for Easterly, The Book of Memory and Rotten Row. Her work has shortlisted for, among others, the Orwell Prize, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, the PEN America Open Book Award and the Prix Femina (Étrangers). She is the 2009 recipient of the Guardian First Book Award and the 2016 recipient of the McKitterick Prize from the Society of Authors. Having spent more than a decade working as an international trade lawyer in Geneva, Petina now divides her time between Harare and Berlin, where she is a fellow of the DAAD Berliner Kunstlerprogramm.