A devastating novel of love and desire and one man's search for his soul in a world of violence and political intrigue, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award 1998

'This is a historical novel as well as a love story. But with the news from Congo continuing in the same vein nearly 40 years later, it has a lively currency... Like Muldoon, Bennett has gained a great deal by looking at political strife and engagement from a faraway place, from an oblique angle. To quote that poet's verse about Auden and Yeats, it may be the case that "history's a twisted root/ with art its small, translucent fruit/ and never the other way round" - but the fruit is beautiful and we see the branch better for looking through it'
Giles Foden, The Guardian 4th July
'This is a very well-written and well