Heat of the Moment

The complexity of postcolonial Africa muddles the lives of two English lovers in Blake's (Waiting for the Sea to Be Blue) romantic novel. London stockbroker Michael Ballantyne falls for independent Olivia Jones, whose family includes a mother in an asylum, an estranged sister and a long-lost brother. When Olivia suddenly returns home to Kenya, Michael follows her on a journey into the past of both Olivia's family and the British Empire itself. His trek takes him to remote regions of east Africa, where he encounters the remnants of a colonial class reminiscing over lost glory. Blake describes Kenya in crisp detail, evoking the small pleasures and irritations attendant on an empire's decay. Undermining her sharp vision of the emotional and political remains of British rule is the obtrusive romantic plot. A man searching for his missing love, a misguided adoption that leads to scandal, a missionary devoting himself to serving the people his family has wronged--these familiar story lines add melodrama but weaken the realism of this portrait of two people confronting the consequences of the English colonial era. (Dec.)