As most locals believe, the road to wisdom leads through South Philly, and if we need any extra proof of that, we'll get it on September 19 when David Sanders brings his extraordinary novel BUSARA ROAD to the charming bookstore called A Novel Idea on Passyunk.

In Swahili the word for wisdom is Busara, and BUSARA ROAD takes us on a poignant journey of discovery in the exotic setting of postcolonial Kenya.

Here's what award-winning author Jacob M. Appel has said about the book:

"In his authentic and haunting first novel, BUSARA ROAD, David Sanders captures the turbulent early days of newly-independent Kenya through the eyes of eleven-year-old Mark Morgan, the sensitive and inquisitive son of a widowed Quaker missionary. Set in the aftermath of the brutal conflict between colonial British forces and the Mau Mau rebels, the novel navigates the jungle of grief and hope that is a community emerging from years of violence, as well as the suffering of those set upon avenging past atrocities. Sanders creates characters who are memorable, distinctive, multi-dimensional and indelibly true. In the spirit of the best of Norman Rush and Barbara Kingsolver, BUSARA ROAD is a Bildungsroman of insight and compassion from an author who has mastered both the substance and the emotion of his subject matter. A riveting tour de force, the novel will appeal to anyone who has ever been eleven years old and at sea in the world. BUSARA ROAD leads readers both into the African past and into the depths of the human spirit—it is a road not to be missed."

David will read from the book, chat with the audience, and sign copies. An event not to be missed!

Details:
​A Novel Idea on Passyunk
1726 E. Passyunk Ave., Philadelphia 19148
6:30 p.m., Thursday, September 19
Map

In this heart-twisting memoir, a teen boy is the object of his mother’s deep sexual urges. Does it cross the line into abuse? Is he responsible for her frequent retreats to mental hospitals? Can he ever forgive her? The son needs most of a lifetime to unravel, then free himself from, the mysteries of her demise.

Fourteen-year-old Mark Lyons awakens to his mother screaming at his father, threatening to tell the children her darkest secrets, including her sexual obsession with her son. The “Black Dog” soon drives her to mental hospitals, electroshock therapy, and addiction. Some days Mark is banished from home to avoid setting her off. He finds sanctuary in the greasy garage of his friend Richie and in training his pigeons to circle home to their roost. At seventeen Mark flees his home, but he never really escapes. As an adult he contends with guilt and rage and a profound fear of loving. Decades later, after circling back home time and again to reclaim his childhood, he finds a way toward peace and forgiveness.

Mark’s story is one of adventure and discovery, friendship and enmity. His education moves beyond books and blackboards to recent Kenyan history: the remains of the Kazi camp of huts and torture pits where Radio was born and spent the first six years of his life, the actions of Kenyan Home Guard loyal to British colonial rule, and freedom fighter Mau Mau during the Kenyan Emergency of the 1960s.

Mark experiences the warmth and exuberance of Kenyan family and friends as they celebrate Jamhuri Independence Day and witnesses the flash of retribution exacted on an oppressor. His time on Busara Road is an awakening not only for him, but for readers as well.

Limited knowledge, understanding, and perspective are among the inherent challenges for a novelist employing a child’s point of view, especially in historical fiction. It is additionally challenging, even risky, to draw closely on personal childhood experience. After all, “what happened” doesn’t necessarily lend itself to the arc of story. Yet Sanders successfully navigates these challenges, in part by using memory as inspiration and jumping off point, exposing Mark [the protagonist] “more directly to the dark repercussions” of Kenya’s past than [Sanders] was himself during his much more secure childhood sojourn.

On Saturday, April 20, 7 p.m., Miriam Seidel will read from The Speed of Clouds at Norwescon, "The Pacific Northwest's Premier Science-Fiction and Fantasy Convention," in Seattle. According to the official Norwescon schedule, the reading is rated PG, which means it's suitable for this blogger. The site is the Doubletree Seattle Airport, Cascade 3, and despite what the graphic says, you may not need a towel.