Lord of the Kongo

Forbath's earlier novel, The Last Hero (1990), took readers on an exhilaratingly treacherous trek through the Congo of 150 years ago. Here, working with real-life events and characters, Forbath dramatizes the ""Kongo"" of 400 years ago, and the discoveries and depredations of the Portuguese explorers who claimed it as their own. When, in 1482, the Portuguese ship Leonor first navigates the river Zaire, 15-year-old Gil Eames is serving as the captain's page. Soon, Gil is on his way inland with the Kongo prince Mbemba to meet the king, while the Leonor sails on in search of a route to the Indies. Though the mysteries and ""magic"" of the Portuguese capture the imagination of young Mbemba, the Kongo religious leaders and their monarch fear and mistrust the Europeans. Gil, caught among these interests, becomes enmeshed in dangerous court politics and is stranded when he misses his rendezvous with the Leonor. It will be 10 years before the Portuguese return. During that time, Mbemba is baptized and becomes King Alfonso I. His open-door policy toward the Portuguese eventually attracts the plague, the horrors of the Inquisition and, with the discovery of the New World, slave ships filling their holds with his people. Gil's attempt to balance his conflicting loyalties to Mbemba, his adopted homeland and the Portuguese generates riveting drama. Passionate, vigorous, morally astute, this novel serves as a fine testament to the writing abilities of Forbath, who died earlier this year at age 65. (Nov.)