We feel the heat, smell the rank vegetation, shiver through the malaria attacks. The pace is fast down the rapids and slow through the swamps. We share the excitement of progress and despair of setback. The journey takes weeks, and the obstacles seem insuperable.Ĭ S Forester generally handles this expertly and efficiently. They endure tropical heat and rain, stinging mosquitos and (oh, worst of all) leeches. They have no charts for this treacherous river. Rose and Charlie shoot rapids and push through rotting mangrove swamps. The African Queen is an old and temperamental boat. To do this, they need to take Charlie’s boat, the African Queen, on a dangerous journey downriver. The plan is to sink the Königin Luise, a gunboat guarding the lake giving access to the German territory. He is a Cockney engineer, she a patriotic missionary. In German East Africa* Charlie Allnutt is bullied by Miss Rose Sayer into taking up arms for the British Empire. It is the early days of the First World War. But I think The African Queen, by C S Forester (1899-1966), is much more than a Boy’s Own – or rather, in this case, Girl’s Own – story. Two ill-suited people struggle against incredible odds on an impossible quest, striking a blow for the right against imperial might.
The African Queen is a ripping yarn (one reason, by the way, for the success of the 1951 film).
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