- Paperback: 340 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (13 May 1999)
- ISBN-10: 0747545626
- ISBN-13: 978-0747545620
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Alternating between Oxford and Cape Town in the latter half of the 19th century, this is an extraordinary tale of the late-in-life adventures of a frail ornithologist. Professor Wills is cajoled from his sequestered life as a reclusive don in a quest to bring British birdsong to the slopes of Table Mountain and finds himself drawn into the eccentric antics and significant histories that surround a weakening colossus--Cecil Rhodes. Among the coteries of Rhodes' sharp blue-eyed young men, the author effortlessly slides better known fin-de-siècle figures such as Wilde, Kipling, Ruskin, Carrol, Jameson, Milner and Selous. With erotic undertones which remain teasingly suggestive, this delightful weaving of ornithology, history, biography and intrigue symbolically reveals Olive Schreiner among the undergrowth on Rhodes' mountain as the whisperer of the war and politics to come. The urgency of her pleas, so significant to us now, are viewed as shrill and hysterical in the discreet libraries of men more or less devoted to the imperialist mission. Ann Harries wittily develops the character of Wills from fearfully pedantic to naively (or omnisciently?) enchanted as his anti-heroic hero is pleasurably conjured in his conflicts of conscience, loyalties, desire and power. --Oliver Phillips
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Alternating between Oxford and Cape Town in the latter half of the 19th century, this is an extraordinary tale of the late-in-life adventures of a frail ornithologist. Professor Wills is cajoled from his sequestered life as a reclusive don in a quest to bring British birdsong to the slopes of Table Mountain and finds himself drawn into the eccentric antics and significant histories that surround a weakening colossus--Cecil Rhodes. Among the coteries of Rhodes' sharp blue- eyed young men, the author effortlessly slides better known fin-de-siècle figures such as Wilde, Kipling, Ruskin, Carrol, Jameson, Milner and Selous. With erotic undertones which remain teasingly suggestive, this delightful weaving of ornithology, history, biography and intrigue symbolically reveals Olive Schreiner amongst the undergrowth on Rhodes' mountain as the whisperer of the war and politics to come. The urgency of her pleas, so significant to us now, are viewed as shrill and hysterical in the discreet libraries of men more or less devoted to the imperialist mission. Ann Harries wittily develops the character of Wills from fearfully pedantic to naively (or omnisciently?) enchanted as his antiheroic hero is pleasurably conjured in his conflicts of conscience, loyalties, desire and power. --Oliver Phillips
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It is the turn of the century. South Africa is on the brink of the Boer War, Oscar Wilde is dying of syphillis (or was it an ear infection?), Kipling is writing his books and `The White Man's Burden', Lewis Carroll has just died, Darwin's theories are the subject of dinner table conversation, shooting big mammals is a gentleman's game, and the Dodo has long been extinct -- one specimen's remains are on display in the Oxford Museum (of Natural History).
Prof Wills, an eccentric Oxford don, is sent to Cape Town with hundreds of English songbirds by a tycoon who believes that the birds' songs will save his life; However the birds are now confused and muted by the change of hemisphere, and this is not Wills' only problem as he is dragged into South Africa's political situation.
The storyline moves between Oxford and Cape Town, and back and front in time. Wills meets dozens of historic figures which is part of this novel's formula (being a historic novel), but this can also be its weakest point (that is, what may make some readers dislike this novel) since historic figures (and locations) are iconic and it is hard to avoid mentioning their stereotypical features. Personaly, I have no strong opinions on the personalities of these figures, and I enjoyed reading this novel, and I guess that most readers will.
I found the main character extememly unlikable during the beginning of this novel, but I eventually found myself more and more amused by his eccentricities, pedantry, mundane worries and pompous language.
Very readable and enjoyable. Highly recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In Cape Town in the last year of the nineteenth century the fabulously wealthy Cecil Rhodes fears he is dying and believes only one thing can ensure his survival: the sound of English birdsong. He entrusts Oxford don and expert ornithologist Francis Wills with the task of bringing 200 nightingales, blackbirds and other assorted songbirds to the Cape Colony, and with making them sing - an impossible demand since it is Autumn in the lower hemisphere and birds are only vocal in Spring and Summer. From this quirky beginning Harries weaves an absorbing tale which takes in the theory of evolution, homosexual repression, racism and politics along the way and has a cast of actual historical figures including Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Wilde and Lewis Carroll. Constantly inventive, and full of black humour, this book draws you into the world it so powerfully evokes. A real page-turner that stays in the mind long after you have finished it. The best historical novel I've ever read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a superb novel by any standards, but as a first novel it's an astonishing achievement. This has to be the ultimate account of the late Victorian period, with real people such as Rhodes, Wilde, Schreiner, Kipling and Selous rubbing shoulders with fictional characters such as the fussy, pedantic ornithologist, Professor Wills. Forget "Jock of the Bushveld" - this is the best novel about South Africa!
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