Rating: Not rated
Tags: Science Fiction, Lang:en
Summary
Everfair is a wonderful Neo-Victorian
alternate history novel that explores the question of what
might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the
Congo if the native populations had learned about steam
technology a bit earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great
Britian join forces with African-American missionaries to
purchase land from the Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold
II. This land, named Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven,
an imaginary Utopia for native populations of the Congo as
well as escaped slaves returning from America and other
places where African natives were being mistreated. Nisi Shawl's speculative masterpiece
manages to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on
record into a marvelous and exciting exploration of the
possibilities inherent in a turn of history. Everfair is told from a multiplicity
of voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African
Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a
compelling range of voices that have historically been
silenced. Everfair is not only a beautiful book but an
educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new
insight into an often ignored period of history.