Leylah Attar – Mists of the Serengeti

Synopsis

Once in Africa, I kissed a king…

“And just like that, in an old red barn at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, I discovered the elusive magic I had only ever glimpsed between the pages of great love stories. It fluttered around me like a newborn butterfly and settled in a corner of my heart. I held my breath, afraid to exhale for fear it would slip out, never to be found again.”

When a bomb explodes in a mall in East Africa, its aftershocks send two strangers on a collision course that neither one sees coming.

Jack Warden, a divorced coffee farmer in Tanzania, loses his only daughter. An ocean away, in the English countryside, Rodel Emerson loses her only sibling.

Two ordinary people, bound by a tragic afternoon, set out to achieve the extraordinary, as they make three stops to rescue three children across the vast plains of the Serengeti—children who are worth more dead than alive.

But even if they beat the odds, another challenge looms at the end of the line. Can they survive yet another loss—this time of a love that’s bound to slip through their fingers, like the mists that dissipate in the light of the sun?

“Sometimes you come across a rainbow story—one that spans your heart. You might not be able to grasp it or hold on to it, but you can never be sorry for the color and magic it brought.”

A blend of romance and women’s fiction, Mists of The Serengeti is inspired by true events and contains emotional triggers, including the death of a child. Not recommended for sensitive readers. Standalone, contemporary fiction.

*FRISSÍTÉS: 2019-ben érkezik A Serengeti köde címmel a Könyvmolyképző Kiadó gondozásában.*

Véleményem a könyvről

Leylah Attar szavai varázslatával Serengeti ködjéből szépen lassan kirajzolódott egy olyan csoda, amelyet ritkán tapasztal meg az ember. Egy olyan gyönyörű történet, amelyben minden szónak jelentése van. Az írónő varázslatosan szőtte a szavakat, és őszintén mondhatom, hogy Amy Harmon óta nem volt olyan írónő, akinek a könyvénél jóformán minden második oldalon bejelöltem egy idézetet.

A Mists of the Serengeti egy olyan történet volt, amely igazán teljessé tette a lelkemet. Egy utazás keresztül kontinenseken, életeken, gyászon, szerelmen és fájdalmon. Én is ott voltam Ro-val és Jack-el a Kilimanjaro lábánál, ahol a bogarak zümmögnek, és a magas füvet zörgeti a szél. Ott voltam, amikor megtanulták egyik lábukat a másik után tenni azokban a percekben, mikor úgy tűnt, hogy nem jön el a napsütés az eső után, és akkor is, mikor az eső végül szivárványba hajlott át. Ott voltam velük, mikor nagyobbá váltak önmaguknál, és a gyengébbek segítségére siettek. És akkor is ott voltam, mikor úgy döntöttek, hogy igenis egy kávéültetvényen is lehet teapartit tartani. 🙂

Egyetlen tragikus esemény, két kontinens, két gyásszal küzdő lélek. “We are all connected. Taleenoi olngisoilechashur.” „Talán titokzatos módon mindannyiunk élete összekapcsolódik valahogy. Egy szálat meghúzol itt, és egy élet feltárul amott.”
Rodel és Jack útjait is váratlan események sorozata szőtte egymásba. Két élet odaveszett, de az éjszaka sötétségéből a ködös hajnal két újat formált.

Varázslatos, és nagyon izgalmas volt ez a történet. Imádtam a szereplőket, imádtam Afrikát, a rejtélyeket, a kalandokat, a kissé lökött Goma-t és Bahati-t, és csodálatos volt az a hosszú utazás, amelyen végigkísértettem Ro-t és Jacket. Az epilógus rendhagyó és tökéletes volt, és úgy érzem, hogy igazi lezárást tudott adni mindannyiunknak.

A tavalyi évben a Paper Swan végül nálam is felkerült a 2016 „leg”-jei közé, de ez a könyv… kétség sem férhet hozzá, hogy a hatcsillagos kedvenceim között a helye. A lehető legőszintébben ajánlom. ❤

My Review in English

By the magical words of Leylah Attar the dawn mist of Africa slowly formed into a kind of miracle that a reader can experience only rarely.  A beautiful story in which every word has a meaning. The author wove the words magically and I marked a beautiful quote on almost every other page.  

Mists of the Serengeti was a kind of story that made my heart full. A journey across continents, through life, grief, love and pain. I was there with Rodel and Jack at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, where beetles are buzzing and breeze ruffles through the tall grass. I was there when they learned to put one foot in front of the other in the moments when it seemed that the sun will never come out after the rain and I was with them when after the rain a rainbow waited for them at the end of the road. I was there with them when they became larger than themselves and they rushed to help the weak. And I was there when they decided that they damn sure can have a tea party on a coffee farm. 🙂

One tragic event, two continents, two mourning struggling souls. “We are all connected. Taleenoi olngisoilechashur.” “ we’re all connected in strange, mysterious ways. Pull a thread here and a life unravels there.” The paths of Rodel and Jack also has been woven together by a series of unexpected events. Two lives had lost, but from the darkness of the night the misty dawn formed two new ones.

This book was really enchanting and gripping. I loved the characters, I loved Africa, the mysteries, the adventures, the slightly nutty Bahati and Goma, and I loved this long and wonderful journey I went on with Ro and Jack. The epilogue was unusual and perfect, and I feel like it could give a real closure for all of us.

Last year Paper Swan been added to my bests of 2016 list, but this book… there is no doubt that it has a place on my ‘six-star favorites’ shelf and it easily became one of my favorite books of all time. I sincerely recommend this book with all my heart. ❤

My Favorite Quotes From the Book

“This is what it looks like when you wander somewhere between the sand and stardust, and meet a piece of yourself in someone else.”

 “I will always think of you when I think of Africa.”

“Sometimes you come across a rainbow story—one that spans your heart. You might not be able to grasp it or hold on to it, but you can never be sorry for the color and magic it brought.”

“I will remember a strange, beautiful girl who liked the feel of old books and drank her coffee sweet. She snuck onto my porch on a gray day and taught me to see in color. She was a thief, my rainbow-haloed girl. When she left, she took my heart. And if I had another, I would give her that too”

“I could spend forever in the corners of her mind and never get bored. I could kiss her lips every morning and still not learn all the flavors of her soul.”

“I tasted the whole universe in Jack’s kiss—the blue heat of spinning stars, the birth of distant suns, atoms buzzing and colliding and fusing.
And just like that, in an old red barn at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, I found the elusive magic I had glimpsed only between the pages of great love stories. It fluttered around me like a newborn butterfly and settled in a corner of my heart. I held my breath, afraid to exhale, for fear it would slip out, never to be found again.”

„I told her to dance up a storm.”

“It wasn’t just a kiss. It was a lesson—a fierce, burning imprint, so that my lips would always know the difference between being wanted and being craved.

“When you lose someone you love, it doesn’t end with that event, or with their funeral, or with their name on the tombstone. You lose them again and again, every day, in small moments that catch you off guard.”

“I reached for the beads on my bracelet, thinking of the words on them.
Taleenoi olngisoilechashur.
We are all connected.
How many times do we pass people on the street, whose lives are intertwined with ours in ways that remain forever unknown? How many ways are we tied to a stranger by fragile, invisible threads that bind us all together?”

*possible spoiler alert*

“Maybe that’s what life was about.
Seven billion people playing hide and seek, waiting to find and be found. Mothers, fathers, lovers, friends, playing a cosmic game of discovery—of self, and of others—appearing and disappearing like stars rotating on the horizon.
Maybe Mo was still playing hide and seek in these beams of sunlight, in the dance of elephant grass, in the fragrance of wild blossoms, waiting for me to find her again and again. Maybe Jack found Lily in thunderstorms, under the tree, by her grave. Maybe he looked for her in raindrops, because she felt like redemption pouring down from the heavens. Maybe when he recorded thunder and lightning, he was capturing bits of her, to carry with him on his phone.”

6- “We are all connected”- Stars

About the Author

Leylah Attar is the New York Times and USA Today Best Selling author of The Paper Swan. She writes stories about love – shaken, stirred and served with a twist. Sometimes she disappears into the black hole of the internet, but can usually be enticed out with chocolate.

Website ➜ http://www.leylahattar.com/
Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/leylah.attar
Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/leylah.attar/
Twitter ➜ https://twitter.com/leylahattar

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