Tim Jeal is the author of acclaimed biographies. His memoir was shortlisted for a prestigious autobiography prize. He is also a novelist and a former winner of a significant literary award.
The story explores Harry's obsessive love for Dinah, who left him a decade ago to marry his friend. Despite the passage of time, Harry clings to an idealized version of Dinah that no longer aligns with who she has become. Driven by his fixation and a desire for closure, he embarks on a quest to reclaim her, highlighting themes of love, longing, and the struggle to confront the past.
The narrative follows George, a temporary gentleman who enjoys a comfortable life with Ruth, an older woman he has taken from a wealthy peer. However, his idyllic existence is challenged by the strained dynamics with Ruth's two sons, creating tension and conflict in their household. The story explores themes of love, loyalty, and the complexities of family relationships against the backdrop of social class differences.
The story follows Paul Carnforth, a young and affluent man who seeks to create a pop star as a testament to his own genius and a critique of society. His ambitious project aims to challenge his wife's skepticism about pop culture. However, as the pop star he crafts begins to gain independence and popularity, it poses unforeseen challenges, leading to a struggle for control between creator and creation. The narrative explores themes of ambition, creativity, and the complexities of fame.
Perceptive, intelligent, stubborn and wilful, Clara is the only daughter of a Midlands manufacturer, still bereaved by the death of her mother, and jilted by a local aristocrat. When she meets a visiting missionary, Richard Haslam, she falls in love. Haslam is an innately good man: unlike many of his Christian brethren. After much wrangling with her father, Clara marries Robert and agrees to join him in Africa. Her journey is both terrible and awe-inspiring, and once she arrives at the village where Robert lives, she finds an enclave of huts, dust and flies. Slowly, Clara finds out more about Robert, that he has been married before, and more disturbingly, that the Church must come first. When tribal warfare overspills into the camp, Clara is rescued by the Cavalry, and finds herself embarking on a painful and heart-wrenching discovery.
The story revolves around Derek Cushing, an unassuming archivist in his thirties, who grapples with personal insecurities and fears of infidelity in his marriage to Diana. As he delves into his research on European expansion in East Africa, he also confronts his roles as a son and father, particularly in relation to his father Gilbert and son Giles. The narrative explores themes of identity, trust, and the complexities of familial relationships against the backdrop of Derek's academic pursuits.
Set against the backdrop of Cornwall, the story follows Leo, an only child, who invites his friend Justin for a summer filled with adventure. Their curiosity leads them to explore a mysterious 'spy ship', resulting in a thrilling encounter that not only impacts the boys but also significantly changes the life of Leo's mother, Andrea, as she meets Lieutenant Commander Mike Harrington. The narrative intertwines themes of friendship, adventure, and unexpected connections.
DIV An extensively revised edition of Tim Jeal's classic biography published to mark the bicentenary of the great explorer /div
Between 1856 and 1876, five explorers, all British, took on the seemingly impossible task of discovering the source of the White Nile. Showing exceptional courage and extraordinary resilience, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, Samuel Baker, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley risked their lives and their reputations in the name of this quest. They journeyed through East and Central Africa into unmapped territory, discovered the great lakes Tanganyika and Victoria, navigated the upper Nile and the Congo, and suffered the ravages of flesh-eating ulcers, malaria and deep spear wounds. Using new research, Tim Jeal tells the story of these great expeditions, while also examining the tragic consequences which the Nile search has had on Uganda and Sudan to this day. Explorers of the Nile is a gripping adventure story with an arresting analysis of Britain's imperial past and the Scramble for Africa.
From the best-selling author of Stanley, a riveting account of the explorers who risked everything in their search for the source of the Nile Nothing obsessed explorers of the mid-nineteenth century more than the quest to discover the source of the White Nile. It was the planet's most elusive secret, the prize coveted above all others. Between 1856 and 1876, six larger-than-life men and one extraordinary woman accepted the challenge. Showing extreme courage and resilience, Richard Burton, John Hanning Speke, James Augustus Grant, Samuel Baker, Florence von Sass, David Livingstone, and Henry Morton Stanley risked their lives and reputations in the fierce competition. Award-winning author Tim Jeal deploys fascinating new research to provide a vivid tableau of the unmapped "Dark Continent," its jungle deprivations, and the courage--as well as malicious tactics--of the explorers. On multiple forays launched into east and central Africa, the travelers passed through almost impenetrable terrain and suffered the ravages of flesh-eating ulcers, paralysis, malaria, deep spear wounds, and even death. They discovered Lakes Tanganyika and Victoria and became the first white people to encounter the kingdoms of Buganda and Bunyoro. Jeal weaves the story with authentic new detail and examines the tragic unintended legacy of the Nile search that still casts a long shadow over the people of Uganda and Sudan.
With access to previously closed Stanley family archives, Jeal reveals the extent to which Stanley's career and life have been misunderstood and undervalued. Rejected by both parents and consigned to a Welsh workhouse, he emigrated to America as a penniless eighteen-year-old. Jeal re-creates Stanley's rise to success, his friendships and romantic relationships, and his life-changing decision to assume an American identity. Stanley's epic but unfairly forgotten African journeys are described, establishing the explorer as the greatest to set foot on the continent.--From publisher.