Out of Darkness, Shining Light Audiobook By Petina Gappah cover art

Out of Darkness, Shining Light

A Novel

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Out of Darkness, Shining Light

By: Petina Gappah
Narrated by: Nyasha Hatendi, Sibongile Mlambo
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“Engrossing, beautiful, and deeply imaginative” (Yaa Gyasi, author of Homegoing), this epic novel about the explorer David Livingstone and the extraordinary group of Africans who carry his body across impossible terrain “illuminates the agonies of colonialism and blind loyalty” (O, The Oprah Magazine).

“This is how we carried out of Africa the poor broken body of...David Livingstone, so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own land.”

So begins Petina Gappah’s “searing…poignant” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) novel of exploration and adventure in 19th-century Africa—the captivating story of the African men and women who carried explorer and missionary Dr. Livingstone’s body, papers, and maps, fifteen hundred miles across the continent of Africa, so his remains could be returned home to England and his work preserved there. Narrated by Halima, the doctor’s sharp-tongued cook, and Jacob Wainwright, his rigidly pious secretary, this is a “powerful novel, beautifully told” (Jesmyn Ward, author of Sing, Unburied, Sing) that encompasses all of the hypocrisy of slavery and colonization—the hypocrisy of humanity—while celebrating resilience, loyalty, and love. African American Friendship Heartfelt Tearjerking

Critic reviews

"Narrators Nyasha Hatendi and Sibongile Mlambo create a rich vocal tapestry for this historical novel. We trace the journey of Africans who are carrying explorer David Livingstone's body across the continent in order to return it to England for burial. Hatendi and Mlambo alternate between the main characters, Jacob and Halima, who make the perilous trip with a retinue of 69 men, women, and children. They bring front and center the brave Africans who worked to accomplish the impossible, traversing hostile territories in memory of someone they came to respect, admire, and love. As Jacob, Hatendi speaks with the confidence of an orator, infusing the character with dignity not readily given to colonial subjects. Mlambo brings out Halima's spiritedness, which is unexpected from an African woman of that time."
All stars
Most relevant
Amazing narrative performances and the vividness of the characterizations. The historical detail, which was unfamiliar with, was quite eye opening. The poignancy of the slaves and the impossibility of them having meaningful lives away from their native situation moved me greatly. They did sometimes compromise and survive but so much of this book is a sad consequence of colonialism.

Culture contrasts

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I loved that it was written from the perspective of the persons who were there. For it gave a picture of the environment and its mixture of culture and greed, poverty, personalities and the feelings and frustrations of that everyday life. it was purely real and I could see it and feel it and identify with it.

Real and Beautiful

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I'm stuck about an hour or two in. I keep wanting the adventure to start and instead we're on character development and back story. It got good reviews and it's probably powerful literature, I just can't seem to get into it.

When does it start

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Extremely slow paced, I understand it was a view from the African perspective. But what it really showed as what the Muslim slave traders did a real number of those Africans.
Without accepting, and living by the words of Christianity entire continent will remain in the 16th century.

Slow paced

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I’m embarrassed to say that I struggled to understand fully what the narrators said. My ear isn’t trained or familiar with many of the place names (which are all differently called now) or the switching between Arabic, Swahili and other languages for objects and people’s names/titles. There is a glossary provided but it’s difficult to pause the narration and try to remember exactly how the word was pronounced to look it up. For these reasons, I believe reading this book would have been easier. The story is interesting though. It got me thinking and learning more outside of this book about Dr. Livingstone and his interesting life.

It’s a hard one to listen to-read the book

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