On the Subject of Relationships

Description

Charles, an anthropologist, is studying for his doctorate degree on the culture and traditions of the Herero tribe in Southern Africa. Before his departure from Durham University to undertake his research in Botswana and Namibia, he is recruited to become an informer for MI6 who are particularly interested in Chinese and Japanese corporations competing to exploit the substantial mineral wealth of both countries and their clandestine dealings with tribal elders and corrupt governmental officials. On arrival in Botswana, Charles is welcomed into a local village as the guest of a tribal chief but soon realises that blackmail, witchcraft and murder are endemic and starts to understand just how far the mineral corporations are prepared to go. 

This is an intelligent and thought-provoking thriller, blending recent history with fiction. 

Jeremy Mallinson saw service in the regular army of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland  (RNSC) in the 50s. On his return to Jersey, and after having read Gerald Durrell’s classic My Family and Other Animals, he joined Durrell’s newly established Jersey Zoological Park. During his 42 year career in zoos and conservation, he studied animals in Africa, Asia and South America and served as Gerald Durrell’s Deputy, and then Zoological Director of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. After his mentor’s death in 1995, he was appointed Director of the renamed Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. He has written more than two hundred papers and articles. He has received awards for his services to animal conservation worldwide. Jeremy still lives in Jersey.