Book Description
The year is 1896.  In the vast network of the Niger Delta waterways, where palm oil and blood flow from the hinterlands, the ancient Kingdom of Benin is under siege. Legendary trader Brendan Donivan battles to protect his adopted homeland's sacred civilization from the colonial expansion of the British while balancing his commerce with the whiteman's world. Brendan's reality is fractured by the arrival of  Elle Bowie. New York anthropologist Elle Bowie is drawn to the Guinea Coast by a dream. Amazed to discover the domain she came to dissect holds vast happiness and delights, she cannot reveal her true ambition. For against everything her mind and heart has trained her for, she has it bad for the "Coast Gentleman." Brendan cannot love a woman who is in cahoots with the British. Elle cannot love any man. Central in the scheming of the Oil Rivers' citizens are the traitorous gnome Mateus, descended from Portuguese soldiers, the happy-go-lucky Texan, Rip, who masquerades as Elle's husband as long as it serves his purpose, and the majestic and brutal General Ologboshere in command of thousands of warriors. As Brendan and Elle become mixed up in the political intrigues of the steamy jungle, the British forces bear down relentlessly upon them. They face the extinction of a way of life: trading hulks anchored in the rivers, advanced bronze artwork, colossal war canoes, and the supremacy of the Oba, King of Benin, second in command to the gods. The Kingdom of Benin is the land of ritualistic human sacrifice and juju religion. The lives and loves of many hang in the balance in... THE HINTERLANDS