John Le Carre — The Mission Song

Hodder & Stoughton 2006 Paperback, 352pp. Bruno Salvador, known as Salvo, is the ever-innocent 29 year old son of a Catholic Irish missionary and a Congolese headman's daughter. Educated first at mission school in the East Congolese province of Kivu, and later at a discreet sanctuary for the secret sons of Rome, Salvo is inspired to train as a professional interpreter in the minority of African languages of which he has been an obsessive collector. He is courted by city corporations, the Immigration Services and - inevitably - the mushrooming overworld of British Intelligence. He is also courted - and won - by the all-white, Surrey-born reporter Penelope, whom he promptly marries. Despatched to a no-name island in the North Sea to attend a top-secret meeting between Western financiers and East Congolese warlords, Salvo is obliged to interpret matters never intended for his reawakened African conscience. Spine creased. (ISBN: 9780733621178). Very Good.