Imaginative, powerful and moving novel that explores colonization, racism, hypocrisy and resilience.

3.5/5 rounded up. Received this ARC for review purposes.

This incredibly literary, historically informed piece of fiction detailed the voyage of David Livingstone’s community across the African heartland, bringing his body for proper burial in England. A book to be enjoyed slowly, the internal dynamics of the community and between villages was engrossing.

A novel about an expedition across Africa as these characters are trying to bring Dr. Livingstone to his final resting place. Told through two perspectives, this book takes a look at the different groups of people in Africa and how diverse the population was and is.

I ended up picking this book up as my book club picked it and while I didn't love the read due to one of the narrators, I enjoyed the conversation that this book created.

This book was the perfect book for fans of Yaa Gyasi. It was rich in its setting and characters and had a plot that kept me up late reading.

I loved the writing in this book. How beautifully everything was described and portrayed. The characters were so well written and it was truly inspiring and eye opening to follow them on their journey.

This book is totally fascinating and worth reading or listening to. We learn a lot about the ways of life of these Africans in this book. The struggles, pain, love and heartache.

I wanted to love this book, a well-researched retelling of a lesser-known aspect of Scottish explorer Dr. Livingstone's journeys: the story of how his body was brought to the coast of Africa so it could be returned to Great Britain. Unfortunately, the writing and pacing felt uneven. There are two narrators: Halima, a cook with a sharp sense of humor, and Jacob, a scribe and would-be missionary. Halima's sections are interesting, though she has to do the work of introducing the reader to a huge cast of characters on the expedition. Jacob takes over for the second half of the novel. He lacks self-awareness and is so pompous that it's just hard to care about his view of events. The book is relatively short but ended up feeling like a slog.

The story of a funereal pilgrimage to return the body of a Scottish missionary in Africa back to his homeland for burial. The prose is gorgeous and descriptive, but the plot is a bit slow. Best for fans of more atmospheric, less plot-driven pieces. Enjoyable no matter what, but a bit laborious for readers who are more drawn to action.

I listened to the audio version of this book during my long daily walk, and enjoyed the thought that I was walking “with” Livingstone’s corpse bearers. The pace of this book is slow, but we need the time to appreciate the developing stories of Halima, Livingstone’s cook, and Jacob Wainwright, his assistant. Both of them were detached from their previous lives to serve on the Livingstone explorations, and both of them act as involved observers of Livingstone, Stanley, and the African members of the exploration party.

The book opens with Livingstone’s death, so we only know him through his journal entries and the memories of Halima and Wainwright. In some ways, he is peripheral to the story, though, which is primarily about the rest of the people who task themselves with returning Livingstone’s body to England. The group, mostly made up of freed slaves, is a complicated, multi-cultural cast, each with his or her own reasons for making the journey.

This book was enjoyable as a carefully researched historical novel, but also as a story of the many ways people deal with adversity.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I knew of David Livingstone, but not much more than his name and that he was a missionary. Out of Darkness, Shining Light sheds, well, light on Livingstone's life and death. I always enjoy historical fiction which fleshes out a real life character and Gappah does a great job of this.

Unable to read and review by publication date due to other commitments, Will update immediately upon completion. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher,

I have hesitated to write a review for this one because I was so disappointed. It was dry and without feeling, overwrought, and unimaginative. This could have been an amazing story. Instead it was "meh."

The book is well researched, but was another one I had to force myself to finish. It just plodded along.

While at first I thought the structure would be interesting, told as diary excerpts from two different members of the caravan, it actually seemed to stunt the story.

I usually enjoy historical fiction as I learn so much, I had high hopes for this one as I knew very little about Dr. Livingstone, I still don't.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion

“Out of Darkness, Shining Light” (ODSL) is as authentic a read as there ever was. Steeped in research and study, ODSL infuses the reader with an interest in Doctor David Livingstone, his African adventures, and the loyal souls who accompanied him on his expedition. ODSL focuses on the part of the harrowing journey after Livingstone’s death when the decision is made to return Livingstone’s body to his beloved Great Britain. The dialogue feels real. The internal and external personal struggles confronted by the travelers with the issues of slavery, political governance, and foreign influences feel genuine. ODSL is heavy with drama and interpersonal relationships. Lacking though are descriptions about the subjects’ surroundings. There are few references to the wilds through which they traveled. Be forewarned too, there is a glossary of terms used by the author in the back of the book. Use the glossary as you read to decipher the often weighty dialogue of the story instead of waiting until the end.

ODSL receives 3.5 stars rounded up to a 4 from this reviewer. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for this honest review. And finally, don’t “presume” you know the story about Doctor Livingston. Read ODSL.

I feel like my review of this book has been summed up by a fellow reviewer: "a beautiful depiction of personal sacrifice, love and loyalty." It was absolutely gut-wrenching. It's not the kind of book I normally pick up -- admittedly, I often go for "escapist" books -- rom-coms or thrillers that help me forget about the toughness of the world around me, instead of confronting it. I'm glad this book made me confront it. I won't forget about it soon.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

“This is how we carried out of Africa the poor broken body of Bwana Daudi, the Doctor, David Livingstone, so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own land.”

This book just didn't grab my imagination. The story is very densely packed and I was disappointed that Livingstone didn't play a more prominent part of the tale.

2☆

I’m rather torn about this review because, while the idea of transporting Dr. David Livingstone’s body home to England is interesting, I didn’t enjoy the book very much. Maybe it just didn’t meet my expectation that this would be more of an adventure story. Livingstone was obsessed with finding the source of the Nile. This book deals with the last few months of his life, when he was sick, and the subsequent trek across Africa that was undertaken by his servants in order to return his body (or at least part of it) and his research papers to England. En route, there was a lot of bickering, threats from men and animals, romantic liaisons, jealousy, hunger and deaths. The story is divided into sections from the points of view of Livingstone’s cook Halima and Jacob Wainwright, a freed slave who had been educated in India.

I have no idea how much of this story is accurate, but It certainly felt like the author did a lot of research and she shared all of it. There were too many names of people, tribes, regions and titles and many of them had multiple names. I couldn’t keep track of it all: “...the four most fearsome traders, who are Casembe, Mirambo, Kumbakumba, and Tippoo Tip.” But it turns out that “Casembe” is a title not a name. There is also another warrior group called the Mazitu, but they are also called Maviti, Madzviti, Matuta or Watuta. I don’t know the reason for telling me all of this, other than to cause maximum confusion. In a history book, I’d accept it, but in fiction - no. You don’t need to tell me about every bit of research you’ve done.

The Halima part of the book felt like a children’s story. The book picked up for me in the second part, narrated by the smug, self righteous, fanatically Christian Jacob. I didn’t hate or love the book. 3.5 stars which I have rounded up for the glimpse into Africa in the 1870s.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

With many thanks to Scribner Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Petina Gappah’s newest work,; Out of Darkness, Shining Light. In exchange for the ARC I offer my unbiased review.

Having read and loved The Book of. Memory , a previous novel by Petina Gappah, I was very excited to read an advanced copy of her upcoming novel. All the elements I look for in a historical fiction seemed to be present: location, era, real life people & events, local flavor and a story I was not familiar with. This book follows the journey of Dr. David Livingstone’s body as his loyal team of everyday African men, women and children trek over 1,000 miles by foot to return Dr. Livingstone home to England for a proper burial.

I wish this book was five stars but I found the writing very detached and therefore I never fully immersed myself in the story. I was often bored and skimming pages. I’ think had I read this book during the cozier winter months, I may have found my rhythm but ultimately this book just never captured my full attention. . Overall, this was just an okay read.

For me, a 5-star book must be memorable. I must be certain, at first reading, that I will want to read it again and again, and will recommend it widely. It must be like nothing I've ever read before.

Out of Darkness, Shining Light qualifies on all counts. I would urge it on friends even though they avoid historical fiction -- it's that universal, transcendent and timeless.

Seen through the eyes of the African crew who accompanied David Livingstone on his obsessive trek through the Dark Continent, this book begins with Livingstone's death. It follows the journey from the interior to the coast, with his servants carrying his equipment, his papers and his body, for eventual return to the United Kingdom.

The book was meticulously researched (and it showed), but what made it stand out were the imaginative leaps the author took in giving voice to Halima, Livingstone's native cook. I also loved the perspective each religious group had on the others: "Mohammedan", "Kristuman", Papist and pagans or non-believers.

Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for an advance readers copy.

Zimbabwean author Petina Gappah’s new book, “Out of Darkness, Shining Light” fits into that category of novel occupied by Jean Rhys’ “Wide Sargasso Sea” and Laila Lalami’s “The Moor’s Account,” where a familiar story is told from the point of view of some of its marginalized participants. In this case, the story is Dr. David Livingstone’s travels and death in Africa, and the transportation of his body overland to the sea by the Africans in his retinue so that it could be returned for burial in Britain. Gappah chooses two different narrators for her book—a slave named Halima who is Dr. Livingstone’s cook, and the missionary-educated, English-speaking Jacob Wainwright, who dreams of becoming a missionary himself. I preferred the voice of the feisty and sharp-tongued Halima, who narrates the first section of the book detailing the events leading up to Livingstone’s death: “They say, oh, Halima, you talk too much. Well, I may talk too much, but I have more than a tongue in my head. I have eyes too.” Halima does see things, in fact, that the self-righteous Jacob, who fancies himself more intelligent than anyone else in Livingstone’s expedition, is blind to, and although I missed Halima’s singular voice once the pious Jacob takes over the narrative, it is this dissonance between what Halima has intuited and foreseen at the beginning of the novel and what Jacob trusts and reports during his section that gives the book a lot of its tension. (And Halima does return at the end of the novel in a very satisfying postscript of sorts.)

Gappah has certainly done her research—this book was 20 years in the making and it shows in every meticulous and colorful detail she drops along the path Livingstone’s corpse was carried. I wanted to read this initially to fill in the gaps of my understanding of David Livingstone, his explorations in Africa, and his famous meeting with Henry Morton Stanley, and I wasn’t disappointed in that, but it was the immersion in Africa and its people—and the depiction of the human cost of slavery and colonialism by those who had suffered both—that for me was the unexpected pleasure and the real story of “Out of Darkness, Shining Light.” I look forward to reading Gappah’s earlier books and to seeing what she has planned for the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.