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Patrick Neate is the author of five novels- Musungu Jim and the Great Chief Tuloko, which won a Betty Trask Award, Twelve Bar Blues, which won the 2001 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, The London Pigeon Wars, City of Tiny Lights and Jerusalem. His nonfiction includes Where You're At, which won the NBCC Award for Criticism in the USA.
'What the hell am I doing here?' asks Jim Tulloh, the hero of Neate's sparkling first novel. He's probably not the first to have asked the question after three weeks in darkest Africa. Having committed himself to a year teaching English in Zambawi he begins to wonder whose 'while' it is 'worth'? The simple truth was that Jim was an unambitious, incompetent, unassuming, inconspicuous, unprepared, inconsequential, underachieving, indecisive and unintelligent teacher, his one advantage - that he spoke fluent English - was easily outweighed by the fact that he spoke no Zamba and few of the children understood what he was saying. Fortunately for him and for us, the pace picks up: Zambawi is on the verge of revolution, and when Jim is kidnapped from his bush school by the Black Boot Gang rebels, things begin to get more exciting and 'worthwhile' - especially when the Great Chief Tukoko puts in an appearance. Twisting the coming-of-age genre into hilarious farce, Neate writes with a vivid, sure touch. (Kirkus UK)
