An unsuspecting author is trapped in Cold War intrigue
Many novels of Cold War espionage, especially those that make their way to television or film — feature hard-boiled spies on dangerous assignments east of the Berlin Wall. But William Boyd’s outstanding new novel of Cold War intrigue is nothing like that. His protagonist, Gabriel Dax, is a travel writer of some renown but between books and looking for a new theme. So, when he encounters an attractive young woman who’s reading one of his books on a plane, he assumes it’s a coincidence. Of course, we know it’s not. And when she later approaches him for a favor like those he’s done for his brother in the past, he sees no reason to turn her down. The pay is good, there’s little effort involved, and the job will take him from London to Madrid, his favorite city. So, off he goes, clueless what the assignment will lead him to.
A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY AND UNEXPECTED DANGER
But why was Gabriel on that plane, where was it coming from, what was that job all about, and when did all this happen? The answers are all crucial. It’s 1960. He had been on assignment in Léopoldville in the former Belgian Congo to write a travel article when an old friend offered him a remarkable opportunity — to interview Patrice Lumumba, the new Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although he knew little about foreign affairs, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Lumumba was front-page news.
Now Gabriel was returning to London with the tapes of his remarkably informative conversation with the young prime minister. And that interview, and the tapes he was carrying, made him a target for people he would never have cared to know. Author William Boyd makes the most of Gabriel’s naiveté and builds on the history of the time to create a fast-moving and entirely credible spy story full of twists and turns.
GABRIEL’S MOON BY WILLIAM BOYD (2024) 226 PAGES ★★★★★
WHAT DOES THE HISTORICAL RECORD SHOW?
In elections held in the Belgian Congo before the country gained its independence on June 30, 1960, Patrice Lumumba had been chosen as Prime Minister. Almost immediately, units of the army challenged his leadership by declaring that the mineral-rich southeastern province of Katanga was seceding from the Congo. The UN refused to help Lumumba suppress the revolt, and Lumumba failed to gain the necessary unanimity among other independent African states to back him. Lumumba then turned to the Soviet Union for support, triggering panic in Belgium, the United States, and its allies. The Congo then became a flashpoint in the Cold War, with the Soviet Union and the United States facing off in one of Africa’s largest and richest new nations.
In Boyd’s novel, the CIA, MI6, and the Belgians conspire to murder Lumumba. Although the US and British security services might have colluded with local forces and the Belgians in Lumumba’s death, what happened was different from the picture Boyd paints. Critically, the commander of the Congolese army, working with the country’s president, Col. Joseph Mobutu, placed Lumumba under house arrest. The UN then recognized the government minus Lumumba. Although the prime minister escaped his confinement, Mobutu’s forces quickly recaptured and arrested him. Then former Belgian authorities, working with Congolese and Katangan officials, flew Lumumba to Katanga. There they tortured and executed him by a firing squad under Belgian command on January 17, 1961.
WHO WAS PATRICE LUMUMBA, AND WHY WAS HE IMPORTANT?
Lumumba, then, was significant historically because his move to appeal to the USSR for support heated up the Cold War in southern Africa. But a military coup in 1965 that brought Col. Mobutu to power proved far more important for the tens of millions of people of the Congo. (The country’s current population tops 100 million.) Mobutu restyled himself as Mobutu Sese Seko (1930–97) and renamed the country ZaIre, declaring himself its president. During his 32 years in power, Mobutu robbed the country blind, amassing a private fortune estimated at up to $5 billion (or about $10 billion today).
With the support of the West, Mobutu ruled over a country wracked by poverty and endemic violence. The revolt that ousted him in 1997 kicked off a civil war that caused an estimated 5.4 million deaths, primarily due to disease and malnutrition. And fighting continues to rage today in the country’s wealthy east, with Rwandan and other foreign forces controlling some areas and Congolese rebels in power in others. Rebels, government soldiers, and foreigners alike strike terror into the civilian population, subjecting tens of thousands of women to rape and killing thousands more people.
Of course, Lumumba and his death aren’t directly responsible for any of this violence. But had he managed to survive and govern democratically, the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo might have been a lot different.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Boyd CBE was born in 1952 in Accra, capital of the Gold Coast (today’s Ghana). His parents were Scottish. They moved a decade later to Nigeria where his father took a position at the University of Ibadan. Boyd went to school in Scotland, then the University of Glasgow, where he gained an M.A. with Honors in English & Philosophy. He followed that with additional study at Jesus College, Oxford University, and remained there as a lecturer. He is the author of 14 novels, four plays, and 16 screenplays as well as many other written works. Boyd’s work has earned him numerous honors, including knighthood as a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). He is married, and he lives with his wife in Chelsea, London, and the south of France.
FOR RELATED READING
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