The White Rhino Hotel - Hardcover

Bull, Bartle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670839981 ISBN 13: 9780670839988

Publisher: Viking, 1992

Synopsis

Records the mad rush to settle East Africa after the First World War in a novel that depicts the paradoxes of colonialism through a group portrait of the guests staying at the White Rhino Hotel. 25,000 first printing. National ad/promo.

About this title

About the Author:

Bartle Bull is the author of the widely praised African novels The White Rhino Hotel, A Cafe on the Nile, and The Devil's Oasis. He is a member of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club and was the publisher of the Village Voice.

From Kirkus Reviews:

First fiction, set at the end of WW I, in which a frontier Kenyan hotel provides rest, shelter, and large drinks to a fugitive Gypsy, wounded Tommies, murderous Irishmen, scheming Portuguese colonials, displaced Germans, an American cowboy, and a pretty Welsh woman. Bull's nonfiction Safari (1988) covered some of the same geography. Having sold the bulk of his British estate and mismanaged his plantation ventures, Adam Penfold finds that his fortune has dwindled to the White Rhino, a hotel in the Kenyan highlands. Lord Penfold and his oppressively horsy lady Sissy preside over the place, leaving management to their major-domo Olivio, a dwarf whose spying and sexual skills are state of the art. As there is much to spy out and many itches to scratch, Olivio is a very busy man. The end of the war has brought a new wave of settlers to the colony, hopeful men and women who are about to find out that the rich Kenyan soils are very choosy about what crops they'll support and that the old Kenyan colonials can be as treacherous as the worst villains in Europe. Anton Rider, with his gypsy skills and restless intelligence, is one of the few immigrants truly suited to the whims of Africa. Dashing Anton has become smitten with Gwenn Llewellyn, who has joined her badly crippled husband to carve out a new life and who has already made a couple of very dangerous enemies in a pair of violent Irish brothers. Adam and Gwenn are made for each other, but before they sort things out, there are swamps to ford, savannahs to cross, dalliances to be enjoyed, pythons to wrestle, elephants to cook, and legal business to sort out. Very nicely done. Bull has sensibly resisted the temptation to turn his racy African adventures into a sweeping, gabby epic, so everything moves at a cracking pace. Much ground is covered, but since the time is short, the stories are well contained. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0670839981
• ISBN 13: 9780670839988
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464