Letter to Daniel by Fergal Keane

Seven of our group enjoyed a deep, sometimes bordering on political, discussion over a glass of wine and nibbles kindly hosted by Felicity.

We all sat down with our books of matching covers, each representing the resourcefulness we share as the book is out of print and hard to come by. The efforts to search and secure our reading matter were well rewarded as we talked and talked about the book and more broadly about the world it is written about.

This is an honest account by and about the life Fergal Keane has had as a BBC news reporter - a life that took him from small town Ireland to the African and Asian continents and almost certainly many other parts of the world.

It is an infinitely depressing read, but it is though provoking, educational and gripping. It is (as you expect of such an eminent journalist) very well written. It brought back memories of a (totally different genre) past book group read: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - "how can something so awful be so beautifully written?"

We had many questions we would have liked to have asked Fergal. For example, how does he live his life when dealing with everything he reports? how does he cope with the horrors? We are 20 years on from when this book was written and the world has got no better - is it worth it? Do you distance yourself from the horrors?

The book is more than a catalogue of horror and disasters but only because Fergal brings each episode back to his reality and leaves a glimmer of hope here and there. Such as:

The Grandson who took a stand against his Prime Minister Grandfather - the architect of Apartheid.
AND
The Chicken School where 9000 children came to learn everyday and sat on old bus seats to do so.

For some of us the book highlighted our own limited knowledge of politics in other parts of the world. How much do we really know about the Middle East now, we wondered? Should we keep out of the situation? does it make anything better to get involved? This is a book group, we stopped short at full on politics, though the Daily Mail did get a mention (mainly for the crossword!)

After Africa it was hard to concentrate on Asia, but concentrate we must in order to get a little bit of knowledge about a very hard line world.

So, in summary this is a thought provoking, hard to read, book and we recommend it as a book that needs discussion - if you can find it!

Our next read is 'The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally' and we will meet at The Hundred of Ashendon, 8pm on Thursday 25th May.