The Two Hearts Of Kwasi Boachi

(Paperback)

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Description

'A virtuoso recreation of an extraordinary life' Daily Telegraph In 1837, two young African princes arrive at the court of Willem I in the Netherlands. They have been given to the Dutch by the King of the Ashanti as surety in a deal over illegal slave trading. The two boys think they have been sent to acquire a European education, but time passes. They forget their native language and become exiles. Treated as curiosities by white people, their friendship suffers and their paths diverge. Years later, as the twentieth century dawns, the elderly Kwasi, now owner of a coffee plantation in Java, sits down to write his autobiography. Based on a true story, The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi is both a brilliant piece of storytelling and a moving portrayal of the search for identity and belonging.

Reviews

Beautifully crafted and spellbinding * Daily Mail *
A bravura rendering of historical detail... Japin's greatest accomplishment is the narrator's tone in which the voice of an embittered old man merges with that of a perceptive but scared and betrayed child * Independent on Sunday *
An elegant and ultimately moving fictional reworking of another troubling chapter of Europeans in Africa and Africans in Europe -- Caryl Phillips
Mesmerising... Like Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, Japin's ventriloquism is virtually flawless * Time Out *
A deeply humane book about a spectacularly exotic subject * New York Times Book Review *

Author Bio

Arthur Japin's first novel The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi was in international bestseller and has since been adapted for the stage, opera and film. Casanova went straight into the Dutch bestseller lists and won the prestigious Libris prize.