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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
In Will Thorpe's Up In Mali, Daniel, an American professor of African history, travels into northern Mali as jihadists take control of the country's historic towns. He promised to try to find rare manuscripts for Foraes-Muriat, a collector from London, hoping that would get him the money to start a new life with Molly in California. His friend Mahmadu, a Senegalese academic, urges him to abandon the journey, but Daniel leaves Bamako with local guide Yaya for Timbuktu, a city renowned for its ancient writings. There he hopes to rely on Uray Ag Ibrahim, a Tuareg leader he knew years before the uprising. As the conflict escalates and the roads become unsafe, Daniel must rely on those whose loyalty he cannot be sure of for a safe trip home. His hopes of making a good profit before leaving are slipping away.
Will Thorpe’s Up In Mali is a really well-executed literary novel, and Daniel is a fascinating protagonist, especially when his love of manuscripts meets the people whose history they contain. His argument with Tijani, a fellow passenger on the Niger River, is terrific, with Daniel defending his plans to carry a Songhay chronicle abroad while Tijani insists that the decision belongs to Mali. Udad is brilliantly written as a Tuareg guide whose concern for Daniel feels genuine, especially when he urges Daniel to turn away from the dubious man waiting outside Timbuktu. I love how the novel brings readers into its settings, from women wading into the Niger with milk-filled calabashes to Timbuktu’s silent streets, where Al Farouk’s stone statue lies broken in half. Well written and extremely thoughtful, readers who enjoy literary fiction will adore this.
