Indigo

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 31. AUG. 1992

In his fourth novel, the author of Soldiers in Hiding (which won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1986) and Three Thousand Maidens shifts his attention from the Far East to Africa. This haunting tale focuses on Jerry Neal, 57-year-old widower and the principal of an international school in Nigeria, caught up in the New Year's Eve 1983 coup that brought an end to civilian rule in Africa's most populous nation. Drawn into a strange conspiracy to avert the impending coup, Neal finds himself framed for arson and murder; forced from the comforts of his daily life, he gradually emerges from the emotional shell he erected after his wife's death from cancer, and begins to see the Nigerians as individuals rather than a people. Though it includes the trappings of a thriller, Wiley's novel recalls Graham Greene's work in its depiction of a Westerner immersed in a foreign culture he only half understands, coming to new self-knowledge as a result. Neal is a particularly satisfying creation, a genuinely decent man who makes the most of the opportunity to change his life. (Simon & Schuster is publishing Marina Warner's novel of the same title, reviewed in this issue)