Redemption through Good Works - Tale of a Mysterious Life

In Full Flight - A Story of Africa and Atonement by John Hemingway, Alfred A. Knof, New York, 2018.

This is a biography of Dr. Anne Spoerry, a key medical provider for Kenya’s Flying Doctors.  From the 1950s to 1999, Dr. Spoerry, or Mama Daktari as she was known to tens of thousands of Kenyans, flew to the far reaches of Kenya’s forgotten regions to provide medical care.  Indeed, her legacy of service is astounding, but there was more.  Why was she so driven? Why was she so guarded about relationships? Why was Dr. Anne so reluctant to reveal her past or even discuss World War II events?  There was a mystery here and one that author Hemingway pondered over for years and even quizzed Anne about - only to be brusquely reprimanded.  Only after her death was he able to unravel most - but not yet all - of the story.

The book is a compelling read as the complicated personality of Dr. Spoerry is peeled back layer by layer as her personal history is chronicled.  Born to a wealthy French/Swiss family, she was studying medicine in Paris when WWII erupted.  She joined the resistance and worked for it until her cell was arrested. She was sent to prison by the Nazis and ultimately interned in Ravensbruck concentration camp.  This is where clarity loses focus.  What did Anne do or not do?  Whatever the specifics - and Hemingway goes to great length to elucidate them - Anne had a case to answer.  So with family concurrence she ran and ended up in Kenya.

Putting the past behind her Anne found a new life as a doctor to highland communities. After enduring Mau Mau in Ol Kalou, she bought a farm in nearby Subukia.  There she learned to fly and joined the Flying Doctors. For the next forty years she flew and doctored, becoming a legend.

Hemingway’s biography is remarkable not just for its readability - it reads like a page-turner thriller -  but for the research he obviously put in to it.  His study of the complex personality of Anne Spoerry is meritorious.  She was driven by inner forces, both devils and angels.  Apparently she came to terms with herself, although always remaining something of enigma to friends.   As the story unwinds, readers gain insight into Kenya over the past sixty years and how the nation has evolved, especially in terms of race relations. 

In Full Flight is highly recommended.      

Predjudice and Passion in Nakuru

Dance of the Jakaranda by Peter Kimani.

This slow starting novel centers around the Hotel Jakaranda (deliberately spelled with a “k”), which was purportedly among the first buildings in Nakuru.  Originally a house constructed by an Englishman, over the years it morphed into a hotel.   The sketchy plot of the novel initially focuses on Rajan, a young Kenyan raised Indian, a singer at the hotel,  and his quest for a mysterious girl who kisses him one night.  Throughout Rajan is never sure of what he is culturally - Punjabi or African.  That is part of the point of the novel: how did all the various groups assimilate - or not- into modern Kenya?  However, the story expands backwards encompassing those who built the lunatic express - the Indian laborers and fundis, as well as the English managers - all observed quizzically by Africans. 

 In elaborating on various life stories author Kimani weaves complex webs of interactions among Indians, between Indians and English and with Africans.  All told the novel becomes a window into the railway’s history in Kenya and the plethora of misunderstandings caused by incompatible cultures.  Finally, the story does find some traction as these various threads begin to combine into a more coherent narrative. 

The Indian characters, especially Babu, the central one, are fairly well developed, but others Englishmen  MacDonald and Turnbull are caricatures. Surprisingly, Africans don’t figure much in the story, except as needed to make the plot nudge forward, as observers and, of course, as the Kenyan background.

Geographically the novel takes some liberties, but that is normal in a novel. Kimani regularly tosses in Swahili, which is sometimes translated, that gives the setting credibility. Finally, those who know Kenya will note that Kimani skirts very carefully around politics, even those of the independence era, opting not even to name the first president instead referring to him only as “the Big Man”.

This is a fine Kenyan authored novel.  Stick with it your will enjoy it.