The Witchdoctor's Revenge - Elsie Milligan
Wanting a break from some of the heavier or denser books I've been reading lately, I picked up this book from one of my bookshelves when doing some cleaning. As a 'palate-cleanser' book, The Witchdoctor's Revenge is much more appropriate than its title might suggest. It is written for children, mildly old-fashioned, and very simple in storyline.
Barney is the 12 year old English cousin of 14 year old David, the latter of whom is the son of a District Commissioner in Boma, a remote northern region of Zambia, at a time soon after the country has renamed itself from Northern Rhodesia. Returning to Zambia after a furlough home, David's parents agree to bring Barney along for a holiday as well as to recoup some strength after a bout of polio has left him mildly lame. Barney is excited to go on this holiday, and is also mildly apprehensive of how to share his faith with his cousin, as Barney has recently received Jesus into his heart and now understands the difference between nominal Christianity and a true relationship with his Saviour.
A good portion of the book acts as a form of travelogue - the cousins and David's parents go by ship to South Africa, where they tour the main attractions on their way north, including visiting Kruger National Park. The fact that this portion of Africa is still very much under a colonial government is a positive in the writer's eyes, but this is likely a result of the era that it was written in, as are some of the other 'outdated' notions... The colonists are seen as brave figures worth of imitation; meanwhile, during a trip to visit the Zimbabwe Ruins, the guide debates who might have built the original structures, and muses: "Others say that Africans of long ago built them, but that does not seem likely." (page 61).
Once the family arrive at Boma, the boys go on a hunting expedition, and this is finally the point where the titular witchdoctor enters the story. The boys try to prevent the witchdoctor from doing some 'evil deed', and are caught up in a revenge plot that, due to the nature of the book, is over fairly quickly with only brief moments of peril.
Through all this there is the subplot of Barney's faith and his conversations regarding this with David. These are straightforward but realistic, and add an extra element to what is, really, quite a simple story.
Not revolutionary, but neither without any merit.
Completed 30 August 2021.
Comments
Post a Comment