This is a superb novel
by M.G. Vassanji that is set in Kenya and Tanzania beginning just before World
War I. The basic plot revolves around a diary kept by colonial administrator
Alfred Corbin in the small (fictitious) Indian trading town of Kikono located
at the foot of the Taita Hills along a track that would become the road and railroad
between Voi and Taveta. No one knew what Corbin recorded so assiduously in his
diary, but they presumed it included information on the townsfolk as well as
the mysteries of imperial power. In any case, the diary first appears, then
disappears and is re-found. It provides the skeleton for the story to hang on.
The story really is one
of relationships. The re-discoverer of the book of secrets was a retired Goan
schoolteacher in Dar es Salaam in the nineteen sixties. As narrator, he then
retraces life as it was in Kikono before the Great War when Corbin assumed his
duties. He was quizzically observed by the townsfolk, whom the author called Shamsis but may be a subset of or
another name for Ismailis, traders well known in East Africa. Corbin’s concerns
for an unconventional girl and whether or not he fathered her child is the
basic mystery that is unpeeled in various fashions during the course of the
story.
The Great War disrupted
the town. Corbin was withdrawn. His diary was stolen. People from the town and
their descendants moved to Moshi, Dar and Europe, yet their connections to one
another and to the essential mystery remained vague even as some unraveled and
others faded.
The Book of Secrets is a wonderfully told tale. Descriptions are vivid.
The landscapes, the towns, cities and historical events are accurately
portrayed, but the characters are especially memorable. They are exactly the
sort of people who would inhabit this world.
Obviously, I enjoyed
this book. The East African setting is realistic (including the Cozy Café in
Dar that I patronized in 1966). Besides being a good story, the book is a valuable
social history, particularly with regard to the changes experienced by Asian
communities in East Africa. Read it!
