In this sequel to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller returns to Africa and the story of her unforgettable family.
In Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra
Fuller braids a multilayered narrative around the perfectly lit, Happy
Valley-era Africa of her mother's childhood; the boiled cabbage grimness
of her father's English childhood; and the darker, civil war- torn
Africa of her own childhood. At its heart, this is the story of Fuller's
mother, Nicola. Born on the Scottish Isle of Skye and raised in Kenya,
Nicola holds dear the kinds of values most likely to get you hurt or
killed in Africa: loyalty to blood, passion for land, and a holy belief
in the restorative power of all animals. Fuller interviewed her mother
at length and has captured her inimitable voice with remarkable
precision. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is as funny, terrifying, exotic, and unselfconscious as Nicola herself.
We see Nicola and Tim Fuller in their lavender-colored honeymoon
period, when east Africa lies before them with all the promise of its
liquid equatorial light, even as the British empire in which they both
believe wanes. But in short order, an accumulation of mishaps and
tragedies bump up against history until the couple finds themselves in a
world they hardly recognize. We follow the Fullers as they hopscotch
the continent, running from war and unspeakable heartbreak, from Kenya
to Rhodesia to Zambia, even returning to England briefly. But just when
it seems that Nicola has been broken entirely by Africa, it is the
African earth itself that revives her.
A story of survival and madness, love and war, loyalty and forgiveness, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness
is an intimate exploration of the author's family. In the end we find
Nicola and Tim at a coffee table under their Tree of Forgetfulness on
the banana and fish farm where they plan to spend their final days. In
local custom, the Tree of Forgetfulness is where villagers meet to
resolve disputes and it is here that the Fullers at last find an African
kind of peace. Following the ghosts and dreams of memory, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is Alexandra Fuller at her very best.
