Downfall People

Priscilla Galloway was an English consultant in Willowdale, Ontario.

The beginning of Downfall People — winner of the 1986 Seal Books $50,000 First Novel Award — is exotic and macabre: In the West African town of Kpama, the body of a new mother is found in the holding tank of the local latrine. Is the death murder, or can it possibly be a postpartum suicide? Who will care for the surviving infant?

The leading character in this fast-paced story is a young American girl named Likki Liddell, who has come to Kpama to teach. Naive and well-meaning, she is charmed by a 12year-old budding entrepreneur named Abu, and joins him in some get-rich schemes.

Kpama, however, is more than a quiet, little West African town; itis a centre for revolutionaries. Soon, Likki finds herself amidst a newly arrived government military force, led by the sinister Captain Araoh. Fearing for her safety, she turns to the local power broker for protection and romance develops.

Bennett’s prose in this complex story is often overwritten, though purple passages may contrast effectively with simple ones, such as when a ram is sacrificed: “... The priest drew the blade with slow and horrible calculation deep through the shuddering tissues of life ... The exposed and severed windpipe raggedly gasped and quivered, desperately struggling with its final breath before the lungs were drowned in blood ... Wanton and red (the blood) poured out into the innocent morning, a crimson accusation addressed to the ochre sky... (Likki) had never before watched anything die.”

It is clear throughout that the author exhibits an artist’s eye for detail and a journalist’s nose for experience.