My Mother's LoversMy Mother's Lovers
Title rated 3 out of 5 stars, based on 2 ratings(2 ratings)
Book, 2006
Current format, Book, 2006, 1st American ed, All copies in use.Book, 2006
Current format, Book, 2006, 1st American ed, All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formatsThe story of the past five decades of the white presence in South Africa, from the beginnings of apartheid to the seminal events of the recent past, is seen through the life of aviator Kathleen Healey, whose freewheeling lifestyle and multitude of lovers take her around the world.
Once it seemed to Kathleen Healey that Africa was empty and all of it belonged to her. An aviator, big game hunter, and knitting devotee, who once boxed three rounds with Ernest Hemingway in a Kenyan gym, she would land her plane wherever and whenever she chose. She was free with her favors, too, and her multitude of lovers came from all over the world.
In this novel, Christopher Hope has crafted a female character as electrifying as Africa itself. Kathleen Healey is passionate, comic, and cruel by turns, and strides across the continent from Cape to Cairo in seven-league boots. When she dies, her only son, Alexander, returns to Johannesburg to carry out her final wishes. Her legacy, which he must deliver in person, includes a cache of firearms for a former apartheid enforcer, a wig that once belonged to a Liberian boy soldier, and her knitting needles, which he must present to Bamadodi, the Rain Queen. What he inherits is her house and her gardener who, like Alexander, is also an exile. But when he meets Cindy September and she moves into his home, Alexander must confront the final part of his mother's legacy - his capacity for love.
The author of Serenity House and Kruger’s Alp (winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction) returns with a lyrical and taut novel about the past fifty years of white presence in South Africa, as seen through the eyes of a superbly authentic female character. Once it seemed to Kathleen Healey that Africa was empty and all of it belonged to her. An aviator, big game hunter, and knitting devotee, who once boxed three rounds with Ernest Hemingway, she would land her plane wherever and whenever she chose. She was free with her favors, too, and her multitude of lovers came from all over the world. But when she begins to fade with illness, she entrusts her only son Alexander to carry out her final wishes ? a legacy guaranteed to ?keep her smiling in her grave.” Bitingly funny, outrageously inventive, and peopled with a fantastic cast of characters, My Mother’s Lovers is an epic tragicomedy, fierce and radiant as our enduring romance with Africa.
The author of Serenity House and Kruger’s Alp (winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction) returns with a lyrical and taut novel about the past fifty years of white presence in South Africa, as seen through the eyes of a superbly authentic female character. Once it seemed to Kathleen Healey that Africa was empty and all of it belonged to her. An aviator, big game hunter, and knitting devotee, who once boxed three rounds with Ernest Hemingway, she would land her plane wherever and whenever she chose. She was free with her favors, too, and her multitude of lovers came from all over the world. But when she begins to fade with illness, she entrusts her only son Alexander to carry out her final wishes — a legacy guaranteed to “keep her smiling in her grave.” Bitingly funny, outrageously inventive, and peopled with a fantastic cast of characters, My Mother’s Lovers is an epic tragicomedy, fierce and radiant as our enduring romance with Africa.
Once it seemed to Kathleen Healey that Africa was empty and all of it belonged to her. An aviator, big game hunter, and knitting devotee, who once boxed three rounds with Ernest Hemingway in a Kenyan gym, she would land her plane wherever and whenever she chose. She was free with her favors, too, and her multitude of lovers came from all over the world.
In this novel, Christopher Hope has crafted a female character as electrifying as Africa itself. Kathleen Healey is passionate, comic, and cruel by turns, and strides across the continent from Cape to Cairo in seven-league boots. When she dies, her only son, Alexander, returns to Johannesburg to carry out her final wishes. Her legacy, which he must deliver in person, includes a cache of firearms for a former apartheid enforcer, a wig that once belonged to a Liberian boy soldier, and her knitting needles, which he must present to Bamadodi, the Rain Queen. What he inherits is her house and her gardener who, like Alexander, is also an exile. But when he meets Cindy September and she moves into his home, Alexander must confront the final part of his mother's legacy - his capacity for love.
The author of Serenity House and Kruger’s Alp (winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction) returns with a lyrical and taut novel about the past fifty years of white presence in South Africa, as seen through the eyes of a superbly authentic female character. Once it seemed to Kathleen Healey that Africa was empty and all of it belonged to her. An aviator, big game hunter, and knitting devotee, who once boxed three rounds with Ernest Hemingway, she would land her plane wherever and whenever she chose. She was free with her favors, too, and her multitude of lovers came from all over the world. But when she begins to fade with illness, she entrusts her only son Alexander to carry out her final wishes ? a legacy guaranteed to ?keep her smiling in her grave.” Bitingly funny, outrageously inventive, and peopled with a fantastic cast of characters, My Mother’s Lovers is an epic tragicomedy, fierce and radiant as our enduring romance with Africa.
The author of Serenity House and Kruger’s Alp (winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction) returns with a lyrical and taut novel about the past fifty years of white presence in South Africa, as seen through the eyes of a superbly authentic female character. Once it seemed to Kathleen Healey that Africa was empty and all of it belonged to her. An aviator, big game hunter, and knitting devotee, who once boxed three rounds with Ernest Hemingway, she would land her plane wherever and whenever she chose. She was free with her favors, too, and her multitude of lovers came from all over the world. But when she begins to fade with illness, she entrusts her only son Alexander to carry out her final wishes — a legacy guaranteed to “keep her smiling in her grave.” Bitingly funny, outrageously inventive, and peopled with a fantastic cast of characters, My Mother’s Lovers is an epic tragicomedy, fierce and radiant as our enduring romance with Africa.
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- New York : Grove Press : Distributed by Publishers Group West, c2006.
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