WHAT'S GOING ON HERE? There's only one way to find out: Shake the Mango Tree! Loris Harding and his brother Lars face bigger problems than most of us do. Multiple members of the Harding family and several of their wives and lovers have been murdered. War and espionage threaten the very existence of their country.
One simple but powerful method exists for solving the murders and saving England: Shake the mango tree and see what falls out.
By the time they finish shaking the tree, the deaths of Judah Harding, Gamaliel Harding, Eleazar Harding, Hoshaiah Harding, Hillel Harding, and Hillel's beloved Muriel have been solved. Mostly. Sort of.
But is everyone dead? And who was wearing the gorilla suit? What does the gorilla mask left in the Savoy Hotel mean? What does Sir Donald Badminton have to do with everything? Who is in charge at England's crackerjack security departments, MI5 and MI6? Is Ronald Alfred Norwood the agencies' most cunning and powerful man, or is he a powerless idiot? Does Lord Whitley Gregory really exist? If Hillel is still alive, where is he?
Why does Tomson order Hillel to kill Badminton? Why does Norwood order Lars to kill Loris? Why does Hillel want to kill Norwood? And why does everyone say that killing Norwood would be a bad idea?
When Loris tells Badminton that Hillel "...didn't want to be found in what could only be described as an awkward situation," his understated comment could be applied to every page of the non-stop action and scheming.
As loyal readers of the earlier books will remember, heirs to Harding Hall have been dying bizarre deaths, one after another. Each heir's death could be explained as accidental, or as karmic payback for his sins. Yet the way each death conveniently benefits the next inheritor of Harding Hall's immense wealth, accident seems unlikely. Certainly, no one believes that to be true.
In another "awkward situation," Hillel's mistress Muriel is shot in a hotel room where she was in bed with her lover (presumably Hillel). Hillel says he ran out when a man in a gorilla suit burst in the door. A drunken tramp who was sleeping in an alley below has been hanged for the crime.
In The Mango Tree, each death is examined anew by different witnesses. New light falls on the facts as well as the character of those involved, as if the pieces are turning in a kaleidoscope. People and events are larger, stranger, and funnier than real life, all the more with each new revelation. Conclusions that seemed certain are turned upside down. But is this really stranger than real life? At certain moments, the resemblance to reality becomes striking.
In addition to showing familiar murders in a new light, The Mango Tree adds wonderful new incidents to the story.
Lars's heroism and Badminton's shameful treatment of Cronin at the Siege of Ladysmith is a vivid episode from the Boer War.
Thaddeus Tycock's visit to King's College to help struggling students Loris and Hillel is another touching and funny side trip. Tycock rescues the two Hardings from bullies, then helps keep Hillel from flunking out. One improbable result is that Hillel takes up a career of spying.
Loris and Lars keep shaking the mango tree, and what falls out is curiouser and curiouser. This mango grove is densely populated with people who, like people in the real world outside the novel, are full of contradictions. Their lives become complex and entangled, yet remain believable, at least within the universe of the tale. Loris is an unreliable narrator, yet he amuses, fascinates, and informs. As he himself says, "I've discovered that I have a unique talent. I can make anyone believe anything by intertwining trivial lies around significant truths."
Read it now. Look what has fallen out of the mango tree!
