Some stories come along that remind you of the extraordinary scope of SFF. Everfair is one of them. I was fortunate enough to ‘meet’ the author on a panel at last year’s online World Fantasy Convention. After hearing her mention her own book, I was quick to look up the title, and was instantly intrigued by what sounded like an important story. I wasn’t wrong.
Everfair, by Nisi Shawl
Everfair is an extraordinary book, that delivers what the concise blurb suggests, which is no mean feat within the realms of 381 pages. Beginning in the era of King Leopold of Belgium, and the atrocious horrors he wrought in Congo, this speculative masterpiece upends history and carves out an alternate version, giving voice and power to those historically silenced. Using steampunk technology, the native populations of the Congo forge an independent identity and the utopia of Everfair. I adored the inventiveness that perfectly blends with the backdrop: the weaponised air balloons that cover miles of African landscape, and the high-tech prosthetic limbs highlighting the realities of colonial crimes and empowering the victims of those crimes.
All of this is achieved through history told and re-imagined, with invention, political intrigue, unconventional families, diverse love, drama and heroics, power and compromise, delivered through multiple viewpoints that give wonderful depth to a complex era retold.
Beginning in 1889, Lisette Toutournier dreams of a world beyond her small town – and boy does she get that! Meanwhile, in the Congo, ivory has been replaced by rubber, and Reverend Lieutenant Thomas Jefferson Wilson witnesses the horrors that Africans are put through to get it. Fearing for the future of all those suffering abominations in the Congolese Free State, he sets out to speak up against the atrocities. He travels to the UK and implores crowds to write and petition to parliament, calling for abolitionism. But Jackie Owen, a member of the socialist Fabian Society, has a better idea.
In 1893, in Kisangani, Congo, King Mwenda wonders whether his decision to ban all whites from the country was a mistake. He is guided by his spirit father, advice revealed in pictures shown upon Shongo blades. He publicly declares his intention for his people to abandon their lands and disperse. In tune with the timings of the sun’s movements, it is a calculated approach, designed for his intelligence to be underestimated by the whites. Therefore concealing his true intention.
All this, and we’re approaching the first world war.
With Mwenda guided by the shine of his blade, and a multitude of viewpoints expertly delivered through a wonderfully diverse cast, this hard-hitting, magically inventive, and extraordinary tale is told, one that shines a light on history, truth, and the human condition to invent, re-invent, and ultimately take the reins of our own destiny.
What are you reading?
