cover image The Last Hero

The Last Hero

Peter Forbath. Holiday House, $21.45 (800pp) ISBN 978-0-671-24285-5

Historical adventure in the grand style, this is a richly fictionalized account of what was possibly explorer Stanley's greatest exploit: the military rescue of Emin Pasha, mysterious and beleaguered governor of Britain's only province in central Africa to resist the Mahdi and his dervish hordes after the fall of Khartoum in 1885. Thirsting to avenge the death of General Gordon and to restore its imperial honor, Britain chooses Stanley as the obvious, indeed the only man for the job. The wily, ruthless and indomitable Stanley eschews the easiest route of access and chooses the most arduous: through 5000 miles of uncharted Congo, having made a secret deal with King Leopold of the Belgians. Held together, though only just, by Stanley's iron will, the expedition survives disease, desertion, hunger, hostile natives and the treachery of the notorious Arab slaver Tippoo-Tib, not to mention the hazards of the great river it must navigate. The story is as much that of Stanley's chief lieutenants as of the great explorer and Emin Pasha; and Forbath ( The River Congo ) has a knowledge of the region that helps to give his narrative, with its exciting climax and ironic finale, an impressive authenticity. Major ad/promo. (September)