I’ve seen this book reviewed in scads of places and heard people talking about it, so I wanted to read it for myself and see if it measured up (in my estimation) to all the press it’s been getting.
The book takes place in the 1960s. Nathan Price is a preacher who feels called to go to the Belgian Congo to teach Christianity to the natives. He takes along his wife, Orleanna, and their four daughters: Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May. They can only take the barest of necessities, but they hardly know what those necessities might be, having no understanding of where they’ll be going. Nathan is sure that God will provide for their every need, and so little thought is put into their preparation.
The book is told through the eyes of these five women. Each have their own different take on the situation, their own voice and flavor.
Orleanna’s portions are told in retrospect. She looks back at her time in the Congo with the regret of years past, speaking of things she lost, one child in particular, her favorite. Her words are tinged with loathing for the man who was her husband, a harsh, Bible-thumping man who saw no harm in wife and child thumping as long as it was done in God’s name.
Rachel is the oldest, in her mid-teens, and beautiful. She relies too much on her beauty to get her where she wants to be in life, and has spent little time on her education, as is evident in her misuse of words and the way she misinterprets life around her.
Leah is next, smart and determined, wanting so badly to be like her father and yet fearing him at the same time. She’s the natural leader, the one they all turn to for advice, and she wishes she was a boy.
Adah is Leah’s twin. Born with a disability that has shut down half her brain, she can’t walk well on that side and doesn’t talk. Her brain still works, however, and we see things from her perspective as well.
Ruth May is the youngest, doted on and a bit spoiled. Her observations are always to the point, the way a child sees the world.
While the Price family is in the Congo, there is a rebellion and the Congo declares itself free from Belgian rule. We see how all of this affects the family and their faith, the danger they are in, and how Orleanna finally takes the girls and leaves, providing for them the best she can in order to save their lives.
This was an interesting and thought-provoking book. It is earthy, with occasional mentions of procreation and the like, but nothing I found shocking. I did find it far too long, however. Many of the passages were redundant and meaningless, and I feel we would have gotten the same flavor and the same story with a lot less filler if a ruthless editor would have gone through and snipped a bunch out.
(This book was published in 1998 by HarperCollins.)
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