The Clouds Beneath the Sun

Starred review from July 1, 2010
Kenya in 1961 is a country on the cusp of change. Racial tensions run high as work toward independence from Great Britain begins, and the unrest is exacerbated when a Maasai tribal member is accused of killing an American paleontologist who was working at Dr. Eleanor Deacon's excavation site in the Kihara Gorge on the Serengeti. Newly minted Cambridge Ph.D. Natalie Nelson, who has aroused notice with her late-night habit of a solitary smoke and a nip of whiskey outside her tent, is the only witness and will speak against their cook, Mutevu Ndekei, at trial. Journalists salivate as the attorneys pit British law against tribal traditions, Natalie is pressured to recant her testimony, and the gorge, site of extraordinary fossils that could change notions of the origin of humankind, faces shutdown by the Maasai. VERDICTFord ("Gifts of War", an esteemed historian and nonfiction author under his actual name, Peter Watson, draws on his own archaeological background to give readers a fascinating, morally ambiguous novel that juxtaposes the ambitions of the scientific community of outsiders against the sensitivities of the native cultures whose riches they unearth. Cinematic descriptions of the land and its people imply an intimate knowledge of the African continent; readers will hear and smell the giraffe, antelope, leopards, and elephants that roam the plain. Complicated parent-child relationships and sibling rivalries add to the complexity of this story, making it ripe for sophisticated book groups. Highly recommended.—Sally Bissell, Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Myers, FL

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
If you like your romance and intrigue with a dash of history and academia, this novel is the book for you! In 1961, the young and beautiful Ph.D. Natalie Nelson flees her Cambridge home, the recent death of her mother, and a failed romance to join an anthropological dig in Kenya. Once there, Natalie is thrown into a murder mystery, a paleontological mystery, and, of course, one or more new romances. The romance and personal relationships are interesting, but the characters never seem to overcome their historical baggage to fully come to life. Ford is the pseudonym of a well-known historian, but a postscript confuses the issue of whether the book is fiction, or fictionalized history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)