Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness [Hardcover]
Alexandra Fuller
One of my most favourite books, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, now has a sequel. Alexandra Fuller returns to Africa and the story of her unforgettable family…
“Gracefully recounted using family recollections and photos, the author plumbs the narrative with a humane and clear-eyed gaze-a lush story, largely lived within a remarkable place and time.”Kirkus Reviews
“Fuller achieves another beautifully wrought memoir.” Publishers Weekly
“Fuller’s prose is so beautiful and so evocative that readers will feel that they, too, are sitting under [the Tree of Forgetfulness]. A gorgeous tribute to both her parents and the land they love.” Booklist
“Fuller is a brave writer who pushes the boundaries of her genre.” The Telegraph
“A classic is born in this tender, intensely moving and even delightful journey [Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight]. . . Fuller’s book has the promise of being widely read and remaining of interest for years to come.”
-Publishers Weekly
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.
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.
$15.76 Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (August 23, 2011) Amazon.com
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