Overview

'A virtuoso recreation of an extraordinary life' Daily Telegraph In 1837, two young African princes arrive at the court of Willem I in the Netherlands. They have been given to the Dutch by the King of the Ashanti as surety in a deal over illegal slave trading. The two boys think they have been sent to acquire a European education, but time passes. They forget their native language and become exiles. Treated as curiosities by white people, their friendship suffers and their paths diverge. Years later, as the twentieth century dawns, the elderly Kwasi, now owner of a coffee plantation in Java, sits down to write his autobiography. Based on a true story, The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi is both a brilliant piece of storytelling and a moving portrayal of the search for identity and belonging.

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9780099287872

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Reviews

A deeply humane book about a spectacularly exotic subject * New York Times Book Review * Mesmerising... Like Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, Japin's ventriloquism is virtually flawless * Time Out * An elegant and ultimately moving fictional reworking of another troubling chapter of Europeans in Africa and Africans in Europe -- Caryl Phillips A bravura rendering of historical detail... Japin's greatest accomplishment is the narrator's tone in which the voice of an embittered old man merges with that of a perceptive but scared and betrayed child * Independent on Sunday * Beautifully crafted and spellbinding * Daily Mail *

This well-researched novel is based on the true story of Kwasi Boachi, born an African prince and, with his royal cousin, transplanted to Dutch soil as a young boy. In 1837 Major-General Verveer, the envoy of King Willem I of the Netherlands arrived in the Ashanti kingdom of Kumasi on the Gold Coast of Africa was given the two boys, Kwasi and Kwame, to take back to the court in Holland as part of a surety in a deal over slave trading. As time passes the boys become exiles in a foreign country, half fitting in, half regarded as curiosities for while they have adapted to Dutch tradition they lack family support. Their friendship withers as Kwame yearns for home and Kwasi attempts to assimilate. The novel covers a vast amount of ground and time, but is held together from start to finish by the imperious figure of Kwasi. 'Colour is not something one has, colour is bestowed on one by others,' he tells us at the start of his story, and his own chameleonic existence both proves his point and illustrates its difficulties. (Kirkus UK)

[F]ascinatingly ambitious . . . . [A] haunting and highly unusual historical novel. -- The New York Times <br> A classic tragedy . . . . This is a true story, fully and humanly imagined, and that is the measure of Japin's accomplishment. -- San Francisco Chronicle <br> A virtuoso recreation of an extraordinary life. -- London Daily Telegraph <br> A mesmerizing tale. -- Time Out New York <br> Deeply thought and intricately worked . . . . The whole is as seamless in its artistry as it is moving in its emotional investigations. -- Times Literary Supplement <br> [A] powerful story . . . . a fascinating study of how people deal with difference -- Financial Times <br> [A] tour de force . . . be prepared for surprises on every page. -- The Dallas Morning News <br> [R]ich and risky . . . . A deeply humane book, a spectacularly exotic subject. -- New York Times Book Review <p> [Q]uietly devastating . . . . [T]akes a subject that by now may look stale . . . and gives it back its rich and tragic color. -- New York Magazine <br> Gorgeous . . . . [A] work that affirms the human heart's resilience even as it reveals its darkest prejudice. -- Newsday<br>

Author Information

Arthur Japin's first novel The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi was in international bestseller and has since been adapted for the stage, opera and film. Casanova went straight into the Dutch bestseller lists and won the prestigious Libris prize.

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