Guest Review: The Palaver Tree by @WendyUnsworth, review by @darlenejones47

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The Palaver Tree

(Berriwood Series)


by Wendy Unsworth




Cover links to Amazon


Genre: General Fiction

Lives and fortunes change in the blink of an eye. Now that she is alone, volunteering at a school in the Central African Republic of Ducana seems like everything schoolteacher Ellie Hathaway needs. Here is the opportunity to get away from the sleepy Cornish village where recent tragedy still haunts her and to help the children's charity her friend has worked so tirelessly to promote.

Guest Reviewer

Darlene Jones





http://www.emandyves.com/
But dark forces and ambitions are in play long before Ellie's arrival in the dusty town of Limba. Even as she begins to believe she can at last find true happiness, she realises that something at the school is very wrong.

Is this really the place of loving and giving she had first thought it to be, and is headmaster, Gabriel Cole, really their guardian angel?

With so many questions left unanswered Ellie struggles to decide what she must do, but then political chaos descends and suddenly Ellie finds herself more alone than she had ever imagined she could be.

Guest Review


My books are partially inspired by my experiences in Africa so this book was a natural for me. Subtle, direct, gentle, and jarring, The Palaver Tree takes the reader on an incredible journey from the safety of small town England to the dangers of Africa. But, for Ellie, Diane, and Tiffany, England isn't safe either as the wily and unscrupulous Gabriel cons them all. And the Africa Ellie comes to know and love - the friends she makes and the children she teaches - cannot protect her from the dangers of either Gabriel or the rioting as rebels attempt a coup to overturn the government.

I've lived and traveled in Africa and found this book taking me down memory lane. Thankfully, I never had to face the dangers Ellie faced. If you're looking for a good read, that takes "ordinary" people into extraordinary circumstances, this is it.