In this book I am dealing with issues such as: How do we deal with challenges in life? How can we grow from our experiences? Can these questions be asked at the national, as well as personal levels? And how can we communicate meaningfully across cultural divides?
My manuscript tackles themes of failure, redemption, growth, and maturation. It contains a positive and optimistic conclusion – which nonetheless has a hook to it. These themes are explored along two, related tracks – one is key character personal development, and the other is a fictitious African country’s halting and tentative evolution from autocracy towards democracy. This manuscript also deals with issues that are relevant for contemporary US politics and society.
I would place this manuscript in the (cross-cultural) literary fiction genre; I have been very influenced by writers such as Graham Greene (The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana) and William Boyd (An Ice Cream War, A Good Man in Africa). The title of the manuscript is Wisdom and the Baobab Tree, which comes from a West African proverb “Wisdom is like a Baobab Tree; no one individual can embrace it.” This refers to an underlying theme of this manuscript; that whether to achieve either individual or collective self-fulfillment, one needs to be able to collaborate with others.
Adam Edwards is a young, intelligent, and well-meaning but somewhat naïve American who finds himself thrust into a maelstrom of intrigue, violence, competing relationships and political crisis in Kombonia. He arrives in-country as Kombonian President Simon Mushi is seeking to oversee and manage the potentially most democratic election in the country’s history. Adam directs a project funded by the U.S. government to help ensure legitimate elections with a Kombonian civil society group. He also embarks upon an ill-fated relationship with a Kombonian journalist who has her own agenda. Events build up to climax; Adam has important decisions to make.