The Last Safari

Scholefield (The Sea Cave) has turned an ordinary tale of ""lusty'' Africa into a compelling conflict of old Africa versus new, embodied in three generations of the Shaw and Donaldson families. While Neil Shaw, a former ``white hunter'' and faded writer in the Hemingway mold, wants to maintain his game reserve, his neighbor, Martin Donaldson, has turned his land into a cattle ranch, with the help of a Kenyan businessman and Neil's third ex-wife, Teresa. The Shaws and the Donaldsons, once friends and partners, now barely keep their dislike for each other in check, especially since the lions from Neil's game sanctuary prey on the Donaldson herds. Into this turmoil of hate and grudges comes Neil's son, Mark, who flies to Kenya from London after hearing that his father has been arrested for murdering Martin Donaldson. As he waits to see Neil, who suffers a minor heart attack in police custody, Mark learns much about his father that he never knew before (including the details of his mother's savage death at the hands of the Mau Mau). But the past is neither forgotten nor buried, and it finally rears up after a chance meeting that discloses to Neil a final and satisfying revelation. Scholefield's colorful, lean prose and well-fleshed characterizations deftly immerse readers in the veldt. (November 23)