The Ivory Crocodile

Set in the fictional Central African country of Tambala, this engaging first novel is narrated by Nicole, a young American whose naive idealism collides with the realities of postcolonial, post-Cold War Africa. Recent college grad Nicole decides to return to the continent in which she was raised when her father was a government employee in Guinea. She signs on as a teacher of English in AfricEd, a Peace Corps-like organization. Her journey into the heart of Tambala turns into a hard road to maturity. Ultimately, this is a novel of disillusionment as Nicole's initial desire to be accepted by the Tambalans yields to her increasing awareness of her own ""otherness"" and inability to affect change in her adoptive village. The teacher she falls in love with is really an Angolan freedom fighter; the young girl she nurtures as her assistant in a family-planning clinic becomes pregnant. The American idealist thwarted by an un-ideal world is not a new story, but Drew carefully articulates the complexity of managing cultural differences, and she understands--but does not herself succumb to--the romantic temptations that initially mislead Nicole. (May)