Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #226905 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Synopsis
Michael, a missionary priest in Kenya, has just killed Munyasya, a retired army officer. It might have been an accident, but Mulonzya, a politician resentful of the power of foreign churches, tries to exploit the tragedy for his own ends. Boniface, a young church worker, and his wife, Josephine, have just lost their child. They did not make it to the hospital in time, possibly because Michael made a detour to retrieve a letter from the Mission, a letter from Janet, a former volunteer teacher who was the priest's neighbour for two years. It is Munyasya who has the last laugh, however, when he reveals that he was probably in control of events all along. Thirty years on, the same characters find their lives still influenced by his memory.

Customer Reviews

Under the skin
Mission is an ambitious debut novel set in the early years of post-colonial Kenya. In view of recent events in that beautiful country it seems oddly prophetic underlining as it does the tribal tensions that always lie beneath the surface driving and sometimes exacerbating human frailty, thoughtlessness, greed, even the universal need for love and acknowledgement. The novel insists that these tribal affiliations are not just associated with the indigenous population; the white churchmen, their friends and relations are just as haplessly caught in the net of these loyalties and responsibilities.
The plot is centred round the lives of five characters who are more or less implicated in the death of Munyasya a derelict ex Kenyan army officer. Although the `accident' occurred more than thirty years ago this tragedy is still playing out its dramatic consequences in their lives.
In reading the novel I was constantly reminded of Lawrence Durrell's great work `The Alexandria Quartet,'. In`Mission' the sense of place is not so poetically depicted but there is no doubt that we are in Africa its vibrancy and heat pervades each chapter and as in the Quartet we see one event or set of circumstances from the varying points of view of the main characters. How differently each views those same events!
I found the novel a little didactic in the few places where Christian ideology is being discussed but this is definitely a novel for the thoughtful reader who is attracted by or who is simply in love with Africa and its peoples.

A review of Mission by Cao Thac, Australia
Mission, by Philip Spires, offers an armchair exploration of the locals and foreign workers in a poor village in Kenya. Through their stories, we get to know their hopes and aspirations, their dilemmas, the circumstances that force them to act the way they do and, ultimately, their humanity. The book begins with a car accident in which the village drunk, a character nobody liked much, got killed. However, the day of the accident proves to be fateful for the major characters of the book. Like Kurosawa's movie Rashomon, each of the major characters - a Catholic priest who cares more about the welfare of the people in this life than for their souls in the next life, an earnest young Kenyan who wants to become a Catholic priest, a couple of local entrepreneurs who cleverly exploit the business and political opportunities in Kenya just after it gained independence etc - tells their hopes and ambitions, their circumstances and their dilemmas. The car accident at the beginning of the book turns out to be the denouement for the major characters.

The book is only published recently but has been incubated by Philip over many years while he spent time in Kenya, London, Brunei and the United Arab Emirates. While his portrayal of Kenya and London is quite vivid, we also recognise the basic humanity of the characters in the book. It is comforting to know that while we face different circumstances, we are basically the same round the world. This is a message we need to remind ourselves constantly as tribal and sectarian conflicts exploded in recent years.

Posted by Philip Spires

A giant of a book
This is a giant of a book. An erudite and well written account of East Africa in the nineteen seventies woven around one small event. It shows how one tiny pebble thrown into a pond can cause ripples that spread across time and distance. It's a 'must' read for anyone who is interested in African history and its consequences. A huge achievement in terms of time, commitment and expertise.