EVERFAIR is a wonderful Neo-Victorian alternate history
novel that explores the question of what might have come of
Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native
populations had learned about steam technology a bit
earlier. Fabian Socialists from Great Britain join forces
with African-American missionaries to purchase land from the
Belgian Congo's "owner," King Leopold II. This land, named
Everfair, is set aside as a safe haven, an imaginary
Utopia for native populations of the Congo as well as
escaped slaves returning from America and other places where
African natives were being mistreated.
Nisi Shawl's speculative masterpiece manages to turn one of
the worst human rights disasters on record into a marvelous
and exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a
turn of history. EVERFAIR is told from a multiplicity of
voices: Africans, Europeans, East Asians, and African
Americans in complex relationships with one another, in a
compelling range of voices that have historically been
silenced. EVERFAIR is not only a beautiful book but an
educational and inspiring one that will give the reader new
insight into an often ignored period of history.
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