Mister Johnson

A temporary clerk, still on probation, Mr Johnson has been in Fada, Nigeria, for six months and is already much in debt. Undaunted, he entertains on the grandest scale, with drums and smuggled gin. Not only that, he intends to pay a small fortune for his wife ...

First published in 1939, Mister Johnson marked the end of Joyce Cary''s series of Nigerian-based novels, derived from his own days in the Nigerian Colonial Service (1913-1919). William Boyd has described the novel as, ''A wonderfully evocative portrait of a bygone colonial life ... Mr Johnson, in short, is a great literary creation; he can safely take his place beside any of the enduring characters world literature has presented us with: from Falstaff to Zeno, from Candide to Humbert Humbert.''

So great is his admiration for this novel William Boyd has provided this additional quote for the Faber Finds edition. ''Mister Johnson is one of the truly great and enduring novels of Africa. Honest, clear-eyed and avoiding all easy sentimentality, it is also full of empathy and displays a deep understanding of our human predicament.''