Waiting for the moon

It begins with the arrival in South Africa of the grandnephew of one of the central characters, Roland Carey. He is trying to establish what happened to his great uncle who, despite a public school and Oxford background, opted out of upper-class England and came to Africa to find himself and adventure. On his way to Kimberley, he meets an unlikely companion, a black man, John Gumede, who had spent some time in England as a result of an association with a Natal-based Anglican bishop. Gumede subsequently worked on ships and travelled the world for a number of years. When he and Roland Carey meet up again on the way to Southern Rhodesia from Kimberley they develop a close and intellectually stimulating relationship. A relationship between a white and black person was exceptional in British-controlled colonial Africa at that time and led to all sorts of conflicts, particularly after Roland fathered a son with the daughter of an African priest whom he had met through Gumede. In the process of exposing racist attitudes, the plot has many unexpected twists and turns, as well as bringing the history of the time alive in a very accessible manner.