- Paperback: 230 pages
- Publisher: Arbuthnot Books (April 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0956521401
- ISBN-13: 978-0956521408
- Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 20.3 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 463,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Dark Tower
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The Dark Tower is a historical novel by award-winning author Christina Koning set in South Africa in 1879. Koning brilliantly analyses a doomed love affair set against the events leading to the defeat of the British army by the Zulus at Isandhlwana.
About the Author
Christina Koning was born in Kuala Belait, Borneo and grew up in Venezuela and Jamaica. She has worked as a travel writer and journalist - most recently for the Times. Her novels include A Mild Suicide, which was short-listed for the David Higham Prize for Fiction; Undiscovered Country, which won the Encore Prize and was long-listed for the Orange Prize, and Fabulous Time, which was awarded a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship. She lives in London.
Christina Koning was born in Kuala Belait, British Borneo, and spent her early childhood in Venezuela and Jamaica. She reviews fiction for The Times and has taught creative writing courses at the University of Oxford and Birkbeck, University of London. Her first novel, A Mild Suicide, was published by Lime Tree in 1992. Her most recent novel is Fabulous Time (Viking), which won a Society of Authors Traveling Scholarship; her second novel, Undiscovered Country (Penguin), won the Encore Award for fiction and was long-listed for the Orange Prize.
Christina Koning was born in Kuala Belait, British Borneo, and spent her early childhood in Venezuela and Jamaica. She reviews fiction for The Times and has taught creative writing courses at the University of Oxford and Birkbeck, University of London. Her first novel, A Mild Suicide, was published by Lime Tree in 1992. Her most recent novel is Fabulous Time (Viking), which won a Society of Authors Traveling Scholarship; her second novel, Undiscovered Country (Penguin), won the Encore Award for fiction and was long-listed for the Orange Prize.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This powerful book intertwines the perspective of four very different characters during and in the immediate aftermath of the Zulu Wars. The novel opens in a Victorian English village, and the morals, sentiments and (meticulously) the language recreate the version of that era depicted in the literature, journals and letters of the time. But this is not a bonnets and balls story.
The Dark Tower is a feminist narrative that is also deeply curious about and empathetic with men, recognising the intolerable stresses inherent in the `heroic' public lives men are expected to lead as well as kicking against the corset-like constraints endured by women. The Dark Tower shows what happens when social constructs collapse, under assault from desire, disease, death and the determination of Laura Brooke and her might-have-been mother-in-law, Mrs Reynolds.
Koning interweaves the extraordinary quest of two English ladies travelling to the battlegrounds of a very alien Kwazulu Natal with a penetrating analysis of the manners, morals and expectations of Victorian England and the Empire. By the end of the novel Laura's sensibilities have been stripped bare and she has constructed for herself a new way of being. Christina Koning offers an early, fragile premonition of the post-colonial, multicultural world that would emerge at the end of the twentieth century. But getting there won't be easy - In a novel full of movingly realised unhappiness there is clearly more to come for individuals and for the two countries, England and South Africa.
This brilliant evocation of disappointment, defeat, desire, unfulfilled longing and destructive lies also portrays generosity of spirit, love and a pioneering sense of physical and emotional adventure that pulls away from comfort and towards illumination from beyond the darkness. Christina Koning has with great skill created a thoughtful novel that mercilessly unmasks deceit and is also as descriptive as a top travelogue - her nineteenth century South Africa bursts into life on its pages.
The Dark Tower is a feminist narrative that is also deeply curious about and empathetic with men, recognising the intolerable stresses inherent in the `heroic' public lives men are expected to lead as well as kicking against the corset-like constraints endured by women. The Dark Tower shows what happens when social constructs collapse, under assault from desire, disease, death and the determination of Laura Brooke and her might-have-been mother-in-law, Mrs Reynolds.
Koning interweaves the extraordinary quest of two English ladies travelling to the battlegrounds of a very alien Kwazulu Natal with a penetrating analysis of the manners, morals and expectations of Victorian England and the Empire. By the end of the novel Laura's sensibilities have been stripped bare and she has constructed for herself a new way of being. Christina Koning offers an early, fragile premonition of the post-colonial, multicultural world that would emerge at the end of the twentieth century. But getting there won't be easy - In a novel full of movingly realised unhappiness there is clearly more to come for individuals and for the two countries, England and South Africa.
This brilliant evocation of disappointment, defeat, desire, unfulfilled longing and destructive lies also portrays generosity of spirit, love and a pioneering sense of physical and emotional adventure that pulls away from comfort and towards illumination from beyond the darkness. Christina Koning has with great skill created a thoughtful novel that mercilessly unmasks deceit and is also as descriptive as a top travelogue - her nineteenth century South Africa bursts into life on its pages.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had to read The Dark Tower in one sitting, as the people in it are so real and alive, and the secrets at the novel's heart are so intricately concealed. Christina Koning's detailed knowledge of the place and the times is brilliantly handled - the book never feels even slightly didactic, even though you're learning so much about the real workings of empire-building - what that scramble for Africa was really about, what human loss was involved on all sides. This is historical fiction at its best - an enlightening read, and above all an enthralling story. Highly recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Christina Koning has achieved awards for earlier novels. This undoubtedly merits a prize, a beautifully written, gripping literary novel.
It would appeal to many tastes; those favouring romance, social and personal relationships; historical fiction; a new take on military history; a wide African landscape; a female protagonist who in challenging her time in gender history discovers strength and generosity; a book told from different viewpoints.
In addition to the narrative content the physical form of the book attracts. Arbuthnot books have published with an appealing cover, the perfect size and shape,printed on smooth, rich paper.
I recommend this book with no hesitation.
It would appeal to many tastes; those favouring romance, social and personal relationships; historical fiction; a new take on military history; a wide African landscape; a female protagonist who in challenging her time in gender history discovers strength and generosity; a book told from different viewpoints.
In addition to the narrative content the physical form of the book attracts. Arbuthnot books have published with an appealing cover, the perfect size and shape,printed on smooth, rich paper.
I recommend this book with no hesitation.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Period writing as entertaining as it is edifying - prepare to be...
The Dark Tower is a great story from a master storyteller. Wherever you read it, you'll quickly be transported to Africa and the aftermath of the Zulu wars. Read more
Published 8 months ago by simon dale
The Dark Tower - a powerful evocation of time and place
One of Christina Koning's many skills as a writer is the ability to compellingly recreate time and place; whether it is Edinburgh during the punk rock era in A Mild Suicide, or the... Read more
Published 20 months ago by David H
From Oxfordshire to Rorke's Drift
In this intense and gripping novel, Christina Koning shows an extraordinary breadth of psychological understanding of her characters and the ways in which their lives are affected,... Read more
Published 23 months ago by J. F. James
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