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Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness - Romantic Novel for Book Lovers | Perfect for Beach Reading, Book Club Discussions & Literary Gifts
$9.37
$17.04
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Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness - Romantic Novel for Book Lovers | Perfect for Beach Reading, Book Club Discussions & Literary Gifts
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness - Romantic Novel for Book Lovers | Perfect for Beach Reading, Book Club Discussions & Literary Gifts
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness - Romantic Novel for Book Lovers | Perfect for Beach Reading, Book Club Discussions & Literary Gifts
$9.37
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45% Off
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SKU: 83385730
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Description
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year by the author of Travel Light, Move FastIn Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra Fuller returns to Africa and to her unforgettable family, whom readers first met in Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight. At the heart of this family, and central to the lifeblood of her latest story, is Fuller’s iconically courageous mother, Nicola (or, Nicola Fuller of Central Africa, as she sometimes prefers to be known). Born on the Scottish Isle of Skye to a warlike clan of highlanders and raised in Kenya's perfect equatorial light, Nicola holds dear the values most likely to get you hurt or killed in Africa: loyalty to blood, passion for land, and a holy belief in the restorative power of all animals. With a lifetime of admiration behind her and after years of interviews and research, Fuller has recaptured her mother's inimitable voice with remarkable precision. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is as funny, exotic, terrifying and unselfconscious as Nicola herself.We see Nicola as an irrepressible child in western Kenya, then with the man who fell in love with her, Tim Fuller.  The young couple begin their life in a lavender colored honeymoon period, when east Africa lies before them with all the promise of its liquid honeyed light, even as the British empire in which they both once believed wanes. But in short order, an accumulation of mishaps and tragedies bump up against history until the Fullers find themselves in a world they hardly recognize. We follow Tim and Nicola as they hopscotch the continent, restlessly trying to establish a home, from Kenya to Rhodesia to Zambia, even returning to England briefly. War, hardship and tragedy seem to follow the family even as Nicola fights to hold onto her children, her land, her sanity.  But just when it seems that Nicola has been broken by the continent she loves, it is the African earth  - and Tim's acceptance of her love for this earth - that revives and nurtures her.A story of survival and war, love and madness, loyalty and forgiveness, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is an intimate exploration of the author’s family and of the price of being possessed by this uncompromising, fertile, death-dealing land. In the end we find Nicola and Tim at a table under their Tree of Forgetfulness in the Zambezi Valley on the banana and fish farm where they plan to spend their final days. In local custom, the Tree of Forgetfulness is where villagers meet to resolve disputes and it is here that the family at last find an African kind of peace. Following the ghosts and dreams of memory, Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is Alexandra Fuller at her very best.Alexandra Fuller is also the author of the novel Quiet Until the Thaw.
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Reviews
*****
Verified Buyer
5
Stunning, Enthralling. Poignant. Astounding. Jaw-dropping. Witty. Breathtaking. Educational. Awesome. Courageous. Electrifying. Pulverizing. Shimmering. Stunning. Searing. Vibrant. Evocative. I give up, there are not enough adjectives for me to use to describe Fuller's incredible memoirs of her and her family's life/experiences in Africa - many of these adjectives have been used in many of the wonderful Editorial Reviews.Although each of Fuller's three memoirs can be read as 'stand alones', part of me would recommend reading them in the order they were written. But no matter which you read first, you will want to read the others. Firstly there is "Let's Not Go To The Dogs Tonight", then "Cocktails under the Tree of Forgetfulness", then "Leaving Before the Rains Come"(the latter is a south Africanism for 'get out while you can'). How could one NOT read these memoirs based solely on their titles and book covers????I read the second memoir first, could not download the third fast enough, and am just embarking on the first one, which describes Fuller's growing-up years in Africa. I am addicted to Fuller's family and their heart-wrenching journeys.Fuller's second memoir (Cocktails....) was written 10 years after her first. In the second, she provides greater details about her unbelievable mother and her mother's remembered childhood. (Fuller's mother called the first memoir "The Awful Book"!) As one reviewer put it: "This narrative is a love story to Africa and Fuller's family". "Cocktails..." is written at a point whereby Fuller visits her parents at their Zambian banana and fish farm. The memories are shared by her mother under the Tree of Forgetfulness which is right outside the parents' home. But oh so much more is shared about the family/experiences.The third memoir ("Leaving...") chronicles Fuller's life in Wyoming (where she moved with her husband who is from Boston whom she met in Africa) and the circumstances surrounding the eventual dissolution of their marriage. Oh but there are such astounding revelations in this memoir of Fuller & Charlie's experiences in Africa before winding up in Wyoming. The description of her husband's accident and the aftermath rivals anything I've ever read - I was gutted.Fuller's interweaving of past and current events is seamless (I personally have no issue with an author going back and forth in time, interjecting fascinating side roads to the story).I for one was so ignorant going into the reads about Zambia, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, all other places references, the history of the colonials, etc. I had to have a map next to me from the very beginning.I shall forever be shaking my head at the trials/tribulations Fuller's parents chose to endure while living through all that happened while living in Africa - and chose not to leave. You will cry and you will laugh at the parents' 'personalities'.Then there is Fuller's writing. Oh. My. God. Even throughout all the stories, the geography, the surreal occurrences, it's the writing that brought me to my knees. I will never get to Africa, but thanks to Fuller - I've now been there.Always always, throughout all three memoirs, is Fuller's visceral, unending bond to Africa. It's in her blood, her soul, and one wonders if she ultimately will finish out her future final days there. We avid fans of her can only hope that Fuller's third memoir will not be her last.

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