Book
A Good Man in Africa
Morgan Leafy is a junior British diplomat posted to the fictional West African republic of Kinjanja, where independence has replaced colonial government without removing the habits, ambitions and resentments that grew around it. Overweight, self-interested and chronically unlucky, Morgan pursues affairs, drinks too much and tries to turn a politically useful favour into career advancement just as oil raises the stakes of local politics.
His efforts draw him into the contest between presidential candidate Sam Adekunle, the British High Commission and Dr Alex Murray, a principled Scottish physician who refuses to cooperate with a corrupt land deal. Comedy steadily darkens as Morgan discovers how little he understands either the country around him or his own motives. The novel uses diplomatic farce to examine the uneasy aftermath of empire, racial condescension and the compromises made by people who insist that they are merely being practical.
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