Anthony Sattin

Two sides of the dark continent

Anthony Sattin reviews two books with contrasting takes on Africa

issue 31 May 2008

How would you like your Africa? Sweet and smiling or bold and bloody? A reassurance of a fundamental human goodness or a suspicion that we are all rotten to the core? Whichever you want, you can find it in one of these two very different books.

The Swedish author Henning Mankell is best known for his immensely popular Inspector Wallander series, which the BBC is currently filming with Kenneth Branagh.

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