To the Heart of the Nile
Pat Shipman
(Guest Reviewer - Josephine A. K. Locke)
2004 William Morrow
ISBN: 0060505559

Lady Florence Baker and the Exploration of Central Africa.

Florence Szász was a child in Eastern Europe when she witnessed the slaughter of her family during the Hungarian revolution. After the war, she was kidnapped from a refugee camp in the Ottoman Empire & sold to be raised for the harem.

In 1859, at age fourteen, she stood before a room full of men & waited to be auctioned to the highest bidder. Slavery & submission were not, however, to be her destiny; one of the assembled was moved by compassion & an immediate, overpowering empathy for the helpless young woman. His name was Sam Baker, a wealthy English gentleman & eminent adventurer who braved extraordinary perils to aid her escape.

Guest Reviewer Josephine A. K. Locke writes:

In To the Heart of the Nile this avid reader was exposed for the first time to the books of Professor Pat Shipman. I began this tome, not knowing what to expect, hoping it was not going to be a dry historical read, & found instead, a brave human being from another century.

It has been a pleasure to read this biography of a heroine I knew naught about, Florence Baker. I soon realized that the exchanges in conversations, emotions & thoughts between the subjects were dependent on imagination. I was initially put off by the fly-on-wall narrative style -- direct quotations from meetings between friends or lovers & even personal feelings & motivations being put down as fact. This is intermixed with copies of letters & diary entries that are well annotated.

The non-fiction is derived from researching records, journals, & the generosity of information from the Baker descendants. Fiction through Pat Shipman's interpretations who admits: “I have attributed thoughts and words to Florence and the people in her life. For those who believe the best biographies contain nothing by documented facts, I beg to disagree.”

It soon became obvious that Professor Shipman has delicately & resourcefully researched Florence & Sam Baker, bringing them to life through the use of historical facts intermingled with conjecture in the exchanges of a woman, educated at an early age, passed into adulthood quickly, & taken into the world of travel & adventure. Most impressive is the skill with which Professor Shipman has “jelled” the saga of Lady Baker, her relationship with her husband, her courage in adversity, in an era when “women in a man's world” were shunned.

I was somewhat overwhelmed by the abundant references to: (1) what Florence acquired for elaborate clothing & (2) how the home in Sandford Orleigh was furnished.

To the Heart of the Nile is a delightful, well-written saga of a very young woman's bravery, courage & stamina as she explores little-known territories. While much of this tome is reserved for the telling of spouse Sam Baker exploits, accomplishments & journal entries, it is Florence's journal entries & actions that fascinate.

I recommend To the Heart of the Nile to any reader, regardless of taste for non-fiction or fiction history. Pat Shipman has made a memorable contribution to my reading pleasure. Another book, another education, another path, another author who has impressed this reader solely for her ability to bring to life the humanity of those who have gone before.

More from Pat Shipman:
The Man Who Found the Missing Link: Eugene Dubois and His Lifelong Quest to Prove Darwin Right
The Evolution of Racism: Human Differences and the Use and Abuse of Science
Taking Wing: Archaeopteryx And The Evolution Of Bird Flight & more!
(04/11/04)

Guest Reviewer - Josephine A. K. Locke
2004©Josephine A. K. Locke