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Formats
Paperback Details
  • 06/2021
  • 978-1-7359502-1-1 1735950211
  • 330 pages
  • $18.99
Ebook Details
  • 06/2021
  • 978-1-7359502-2-8
  • 330 pages
  • $6.99
Ebook Details
  • 06/2021
  • B08ZV9ZPG6
  • 330 pages
  • $6.99
Gerald Everett Jones
Author
Harry Harambee's Kenyan Sundowner: A Novel
Intrigue on the white sands of the Indian Ocean. From the award-winning author of Clifford’s Spiral. A lonely widower from Los Angeles buys a tour package to East Africa on the promise of hookups and parties. What he finds instead are new reasons to live. Aldo Barbieri, a slick Italian tour operator, convinces Harry to join a group of adventuresome “voluntourists.” In a resort town on the Indian Ocean, Harry doesn’t find the promised excitement with local ladies. But in the supermarket he meets Esther Mwemba, a demure widow who works as a bookkeeper. The attraction is strong and mutual, but Harry gets worried when he finds out that Esther and Aldo have a history. They introduce him to Victor Skebelsky, rumored to be the meanest man in town. Skebelsky has a plan to convert his grand colonial home and residential compound into a rehab center – as a tax dodge. The scheme calls for Harry to head up the charity. He could live like a wealthy diplomat and it won’t cost him a shilling! Harry has to come to terms with questions at the heart of his character: Is corruption a fact of life everywhere? Is all love transactional? Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is an emotional story of expat intrigue in Africa, reminiscent of The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene and The Constant Gardener by John le Carré.
Reviews
In Jones’ entertaining novel, She's Come Undone meets Eat, Pray, Love but told from a male perspective and featuring a male protagonist. Harrison Gardner is a semi-retired publisher who is still adjusting to the death of his wife two years later. Harry's life has become stagnant and lackluster, until Aldo Barbieri, a “too-slick” Italian tour operator, sells Harry on a trip of a lifetime to Kenya, a vacation where Harry can partake of the land, the sights, and the women. (Barbieri puts special emphasis on the latter). Harry has every intention of this just being a two or three week vacation, but once in Kenya he sparks up a mutual attraction with Esther, a widowed Kenyan bookkeeper, and opportunities—or temptations—arise for Harry to take advantage of questionable business dealings. In a quest to live a little in his later years, Harry finds himself wrapped up in intrigue while questioning his morals and the true price and meaning of love.

Jones writes with clarity and precision, offering a convincing study of a man taking risks and exploring new relationships with an almost childlike view on the world he’s thrown into. In relatable fashion, Harry soon gets in over his head for the attention of a woman or the thrill of the deal. Esther sums up his character best: “Mister go-along. The fellow who’s happy to ride in the back and look out the window.”

The convincing, well-rounded characters offer a few stereotypical barbs about African culture, which is realistic considering their perspectives, but otherwise the Kenyan backdrop offers an inviting element for readers to explore with the protagonist. Readers looking for engaging contemporary fiction with an emotionally available adult male lead—"Grand passion is fleeting, also blinding," Harry notes—will quickly be pulled into Harry's fast-paced adventure, a memorable (literal) vacation read.

Takeaway: A relatable male protagonist finds new romance and intrigue in an African vacation.

Great for fans of: Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter, Eric Jerome Dickey’s Thieves’ Paradise.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A

News
04/27/2021
Potentially Disruptive - In a Positive Way

Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is a captivating, witty read that explores the sociopolitical climate in Kenya in an honest way that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. This is a clear and compelling outlook that realistically paints Kenya while exploring glaring issues that are a bane to the country. When Harry decides to stop being a bystander who lets other people decide his fate, it’s noteworthy. This can be equated to Kenyans finally deciding to take responsibility rather than just going with the flow, waiting for decisions that affect their lives to be made for them. And it can be done without selling one’s soul in the process and leave a legacy and a better country worthy of its name. - Desmond Boi, Editorial Writer, The Standard and Citizen TV, Nairobi

Formats
Paperback Details
  • 06/2021
  • 978-1-7359502-1-1 1735950211
  • 330 pages
  • $18.99
Ebook Details
  • 06/2021
  • 978-1-7359502-2-8
  • 330 pages
  • $6.99
Ebook Details
  • 06/2021
  • B08ZV9ZPG6
  • 330 pages
  • $6.99
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