ACT Book of the Year
WINNER 2009
Nicholas Drayson A Guide to the Birds of East Africa: A Novel Viking |
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SYNOPSIS
Reserved, honourable Mr Malik. You wouldn’t notice him in a Nairobi street “except, perhaps, to comment on his carefully sculpted comb over“ but beneath his unprepossessing exterior lies a warm heart and a secret passion. Not even his friends at the Asadi Club know it, but Mr Malik is head-over-heels in love with the leader of the Tuesday morning bird walk of the East African Ornithological Society, Rose Mbikwa. While Mr Malik hesitantly plans how he will ask Rose to the annual Hunt Ball, flashy Harry Kahn arrives in town and makes it clear that he too has Rose in his sights. When Mr Malik blurts out his feelings at the Club a wager is set - whoever sees the most birds in a week will ask Rose to the ball
Award Citation
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa tells the story of widower, Mr Malik, who is secretly in love with Rose Mbikwa, a woman who leads weekly bird walks for the East African Ornithological Society.
When wealthy Harry Kahn arrives on the scene, a competition ensues to see who can identify the most species of birds within a week. Either Mr Malik or Mr Kahn will then have the privilege of asking Rose to the annual Nairobi Hunt Ball.
The narrative has pace, a marvellous lightness, and, as befits a novel with bird-watching at its centre, it is observant, not only of the birdlife, but of the characters, and the physical and social setting of modern Kenya.
The suspense of the story is tilted at just that degree of lightness and tension as to whet curiosity and impel reading. Above all, the world of its characters has a tact that allows personal tragedy and social dysfunction to have their place without detriment to the essential comic nature of the work.
In this, the weave of motif and action, setting and character, mood and pace, is very sure indeed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicholas Drayson was born in England and has lived in Australia since 1982, where he studied zoology and a PhD in 19th century Australian natural history writing.
He is a naturalist who has worked as a journalist in the UK, Kenya and Australia, writing for publications such as the Daily Telegraph and Australian Geographic.
He is the author of two previous novels, Confessing a Murder, which was short-listed for The Age Book of the Year, and Love and the Platypus, which was short-listed for the 2008 ACT Book of the Year Award. A Guide to the Birds of East Africa is Drayson's third novel. He lives in Canberra.
Find more books by this author in the ACT Public Libraries.