Angola was still at war when, in 1997, Pedro Rosa Mendes, a young Portuguese writer, decided to travel by land from Angola to Mozambique, another former Portuguese colony that had been ravaged by war. It was never going to be easy; Unita also then controlled vast territories of southern Angola through which Rosa Mendes would have to pass. Bay of Tigers is a winsome, bittersweet account of Rosa Mendes's travails as he progresses through these countries. It is obviously the work of a highly talented, sensitive writer, though a preface or more detailed notes explaining some of the more involved aspects of Angolan history would have made it easier for Anglophone readers. The English edition could have also done with some rigorous copy editing. These faults do not, however, weaken the vitality of the work.

Pedro Rosa Mendes