Mission, an African Novel Set in Kenya by Philip Spires, to Be Published in March 2007.

Mission is an African novel set in 1970s Kenya, East Africa by Philip Spires, published by Libros International. It deals with the concept of identity, seen through filters of poverty, religion, politics and, underpinning everything, justice.

March 7, 2007 (FPRC) -- Mission is set in mid-1970s Kenya. Five characters, a priest, a politician, a teacher, a school graduate and a retired army officer see a series of events from their own perspectives and thus respond differently to one particular event. The central chapter is thirty years later and is set in London to offer a perspective on how lives change. The novel deals with the concept of identity, seen through filters of poverty, religion, politics and, underpinning everything, an idea of justice, a continuum within which each character is seen to pursue some personal mission.

Michael, a missionary priest in Kenya, has just killed Munyasya, a retired army officer. It might have been an accident, but Mulonzya, a politician resentful of the power of foreign churches, tries to exploit the tragedy for his own ends. Boniface, a young church worker, and his wife, Josephine, have just lost their child. They did not make it to the hospital in time, possibly because Michael made a detour to retrieve a letter from the Mission, a letter from Janet, a former volunteer teacher who was the priest’s neighbour for two years. It is Munyasya who has the last laugh, however, when he reveals that he was probably in control of events all along. Thirty years on, the same characters find their lives still influenced by his memory.

Philip Spires, born in 1952 in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, spent his first ten years in Sharlston, then a mining village, followed by eight in Crofton, a mile nearer Wakefield. He went to London University, where he obtained a BSc from Imperial College and a PGCE from King's. After two years as a VSO in Kenya, he taught in London for 16 years and devoted much of his spare time to assisting an NGO concerned with development and human rights. After completing an MA in 1992, he worked in Brunei technical education until 1999. He then worked in Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates for three years. Since 2003, he has lived in Spain, and has completed a PhD in education’s role in Philippine development and his first published novel, Mission.


For more information contact Philip Spires of Philip Spires (http://www.philipspires.co.uk)
0034966873368

Keywords: mission, novel, africa

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