 First edition (McClelland & Stewart) | |
| Author | M. G. Vassanji |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Published | 1994 (McClelland and Stewart) |
| Media type | |
The Book of Secrets is a novel by M. G. Vassanji, published in 1994.
It was the winner of the first Giller Prize for Canadian fiction. Vassanji also became the award's first-ever repeat winner in 2003 for his novel The In-Between World of Vikram Lall .
In Dar es Salaam in the late 1980s, a retired school teacher named Pius Fernandes was given an English language diary by one of his former students Feroz, now a shopkeeper. The diary entries, written between 1910 and 1914, are an account written by Alfred Corbin, Assistant District Commissioner, a low ranking colonial official sent to the small town of Kikono. While there, Corbin becomes intrigued by a young woman named Mariamu whom he saves from an exorcism. Before she is married, Mariamu also briefly nurses Corbin when he is stricken with blackwater fever. After her marriage, Mariamu's husband, believing that Mariamu is not a virgin, accuses Corbin of sleeping with her.
The narrative then shifts to Mariamu's husband Pipa. Initially enraged at the thought that Mariamu was not a virgin when they married, he gradually grows to accept and love her. When their son Ali Akber Ali is born and has fair skin and grey eyes, their marriage becomes strained again. Meanwhile, World War I has reached the small town of Kikono and Pipa is enlisted as a messenger, first by Corbin on behalf of the English and later by the Germans. After being arrested by the English as a messenger for the Germans Pipa returns home only to find that Mariamu has been raped and murdered. After her death Pipa discovers that she had stolen Corbin's diary. Pipa believes that the diary holds the secret to Ali's paternity, but since he cannot speak English, and is illiterate, he is unable to read its secrets.
After a time, Pipa remarries a woman named Remti. As a consequence of this marriage his son is sent to live with his maternal grandparents in Moshi. While living with them he encounters Alfred Corbin and his wife Anne. After this encounter Corbin visits Khanoum, Ali's grandmother, and offers to pay for Ali's education. Khanoum refuses and contact between Corbin and Ali is dropped. Eventually, Khanoum falls into poverty and Ali goes to live with Pipa, Remti and their two daughters.
Living with Ali once more, Pipa begins to obsess over Mariamu. He builds a private shrine to her within his shop where he keeps Corbin's diary. Through his son, Pipa is eventually able to learn to spell and read the word Mariamu, and is able to read this word in Corbin's diary. Though he questions Mariamu's spirit about the true paternity of their son he is never able to obtain a direct answer.
The narrative shifts once more, to a young Pius Fernandes. Immigrating from India to Dar es Salaam in the early 1950s, Fernandes teaches at a boys' school. Eventually, he is forced to also teach at the inferior girls school where he becomes infatuated with a teenager named Rita. Ali, now a successful married man in his thirties, also falls in love with teenage Rita. He begins sending her notes and when she eventually responds he convinces her to run away with him to London. Ali eventually becomes successful in London and briefly encounters Corbin. However, letters left to Fernandes by a colleague and friend who corresponded with Corbin's wife, reveal that Corbin and Ali met several times though whether Ali's paternity was revealed is remained hidden.
In the present, Rita, now divorced from Ali, returns to Dar to reclaim the diary on behalf of her former husband. Fernandes willingly relinquishes both the diary and his research notes to Rita.
Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera that aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964, to June 2, 1969.
Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, called "Marianne" and nicknamed Nannerl, was a musician, the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and daughter of Leopold (1719–1787) and Anna Maria Mozart (1720–1778).
Zayd ibn Ḥāritha al-Kalbī, was an early Muslim, Sahabi and the adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He is commonly regarded as the fourth person to have accepted Islam, after Muhammad's wife Khadija, Muhammad's cousin Ali, and Muhammad's close companion Abu Bakr. Zayd was a slave that Hakim ibn Hizam, Khadija's nephew, bought for her at a market in Ukaz. Zayd then became her and Muhammad’s adopted son.
Michelle Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Susan Tully from the show's first episode on 19 February 1985 up until the character's departure on 26 October 1995. She returned on 24 December 2016, with Jenna Russell taking over the role, before leaving the serial once again on 17 April 2018.
Harriet Arbuthnot was an early 19th-century English diarist, social observer and political hostess on behalf of the Tory party. During the 1820s she was the closest woman friend of the hero of Waterloo and British Prime Minister, the 1st Duke of Wellington. She maintained a long correspondence and association with the Duke, all of which she recorded in her diaries, which are consequently extensively used in all authoritative biographies of the Duke of Wellington.
A Bit of a Do is a British comedy-drama series based on the books by David Nobbs. The show starred David Jason and Gwen Taylor. It was produced by Yorkshire Television for two series and aired on the ITV network from 13 January to 1 December 1989.
Clint Buchanan is a fictional character from the American soap opera One Life to Live.
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is a novel by M. G. Vassanji, published in 2003 by Doubleday Canada. The novel won the Scotiabank Giller Prize that year and narrates a story of Vikram Lall in the colonial and post-colonial Kenya. The title for the novel also inspired the title for Elizabeth Nunez's novel Anna In-Between, published in 2009.
Brody Lovett is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, portrayed by Mark Lawson from April 24, 2008, to January 13, 2012, when the series ended.
Bitter Fruit is a novel by Achmat Dangor first published in 2001 by Kwela Books of Cape Town. Set in South Africa in 1998, it is about the disintegration of a Coloured family in the years after the end of apartheid. According to Gabriel Gbadamosi's review in The Guardian, "All the bases are touched in a reckoning with South Africa's past and present turmoil, and no box left unopened in the search for some kind of limbo or twilight zone where all unresolved conflicts might find resolution."
Laços de Família is a Brazilian telenovela produced and aired by TV Globo from 5 June 2000 to 3 February 2001. With a total of 209 episodes, it was created by Manoel Carlos and written by him with Maria Carolina, Vinícius Vianna, Flávia Lins e Silva and Fausto Galvão, and directed by Moacyr Góes, Leandro Neri, Ricardo Waddington, Rogério Gomes and Marcos Schechtman.
Lucas Ferraz/Lucas Ferrer is a fictional man and the series protagonist of the Brazilian telenovella O Clone (2001–02) created by Glória Perez, the actor Murilo Benício interpreted Lucas.
Single Father is a four-episode 2010 BBC television drama centred on Dave, a photographer attempting to look after his children as a single father after the death of his partner, Rita, in a road traffic accident. The series also explores the complicated and growing romance between Dave and Rita's best friend, Sarah. The series began airing on BBC One on 10 October 2010 at a 9pm timeslot, with 5 million viewers.
Grace Akello is a Ugandan poet, essayist, folklorist, and politician. She is the Uganda Ambassador to India.
The Barber and Winters families are fictional characters and families on the CBS Daytime soap operas The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. Introduced by the series creator, William J. Bell in 1990 and 1991, respectively, the Barber and Winters family are the only core African American families within the series. Sisters Drucilla and Olivia Barber were known for their ongoing romantic relationships with brothers, Neil and Malcolm Winters. The family is currently represented by patriarch, Neil, "his" daughter, Lily Ashby, and his adopted son, Devon Hamilton. In 2011, The Bold and the Beautiful connected Justin Barber, and his son Marcus Forrester to the Barber family of Genoa City.
Rita Ali is an American politician serving as the 47th mayor of Peoria, Illinois since 2021. She was elected on April 21, 2021, finishing just 43 votes ahead of her opponent, councilman Jim Montelongo. Ali was sworn in two weeks later on May 4, becoming both the first woman and the first African American to serve as mayor of Peoria. She has previously served on the Peoria City Council and has held a position as Vice President of Workforce and Diversity at Illinois Central College.
Maria Rita Fernandes, known professionally as Rita Rose, is an Indian singer and actress known for her work in Konkani films and tiatr productions. A solo and duet singer, she first gained prominence during the mid-1960s performing in her husband Alfred Rose's tiatrs. She is also best known for her leading role in the Konkani film Boglantt (1975).