A young American couple travels to Africa where their cultural expectations are shattered by the reality of the continent, and they are forced to reshape themselves in a new image. A first novel. 30,000 first printing. In the inaugural title of Penguin/Putnam's new quality fiction imprint, an American couple named Will and Kate Haslin sojourn across Central Africa on hazardous, deeply rutted roads. Though they barely know each other and know even less about Africa, they travel to the distant continent to work as consultants for a palm oil factory. Once there, they start looking into the dark past of Kate's ailing Uncle Pers, who worked in Africa and aided their move. With so many elements at his disposal magic, mystery, hallucinations, memories, romance, tragedy, and superstitions Hershenow has as much raw material to exploit as the original African colonizers. But though his sophisticated prose successfully indicts those very same colonizers for stripping Ngemba, the village Will and Kate inhabit, this is ultimately an unsatisfying read. Much of it just plods along, generating little excitement for the reader which, given the novel's epic scope, is all the more disappointing. Recommended for larger collections. Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon Lib. Syst., Eugene Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. On an aimless journey to Mexico, Kate is called to the bedside of her dying uncle Pers, a former African explorer. Will, her lover, impulsively abducts her, drives her to San Francisco, and joins her in constructing Pers' memoirs. Through the mysterious uncle, they become consultants to a palm oil mill in a West African village. Will then plays the ineffectual, noble bureaucrat, and Kate the empathizer who helps the villagers smuggle palm oil to sell on the black market. Among their African neighbors are a gifted linguist who quickly learns English and builds fanciful bamboo airplanes; a beautiful nurse who exudes sexual and intellectual energy; and an enigmatic night watchman who senses subtle political shifts as well as physical presences. Newcomers and villagers join in dissecting the myth and the truth about the white man, Pers, who came to build roads and ended up questioning opening the secluded village to Western influences. This subtle novel, distinguished by strong characterization, examines the complexities of human and cross-cultural relationships. Elizabeth Bush Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved ...succeeds brilliantly at this...leading us through both the mystery that is Africa and the mystery that is the human heart. -- Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winner for A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Nicholas Hershenow was a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire (Congo) in the 1980s. He has worked as the director of a community gardens and fisheries program, a whitewater raft and wilderness guide, and is now a U.S. Forest Service stream survey technician. He has published stories in The Missouri Review , The North American Review , and Western Humanities Review . The Road Builder is his first novel. AUTHCOMMENTS: