After Kilimanjaro is Gayle Woodson’s debut novel, and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Her descriptions of the wilds of the Serengeti and the cities of Arusha and Dar Es Salaam are so accurate I sensed we’d stood in one another’s footsteps, particularly in parts of the Serengeti. Like Woodson, I am a physician, so I can attest to the accuracy of the medical aspects. I can also assure readers of the accuracy of the medical problems that threaten to overwhelm the medical structure of Tanzania such as poor prenatal care, female genital mutilation, HIV, malaria, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), and malnutrition. She blends these medical aspects seamlessly into her novel along with a slow-burn romance.
The protagonist, Sarah, is a young female physician. She accepts a one-year research position in Tanzania but finds herself far more involved with the medical than the research aspects. Also unexpected is her interest, despite being engaged to a physician in Philadelphia, in a Dutch physician also working in Tanzania. Her transformation from a rather sheltered young woman into one who knows where she’s headed is wonderful. Though After Kilimanjaro is, in part, a romance, refreshingly Sarah finds herself without a man’s help. Woodson fully develops even her minor characters, and this book is a joy to read.
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After Kilimanjaro is available through:
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