A Sojourner's Life

- Blurb -

Alexander Maclean is the product of a British colonial and South African childhood, set in an era which long pre-dated the liberalising of South African society during the nineteen nineties. The tension between Alexander' s sexuality, which he has been conditioned to believe is evidence of a grave moral failing on his part, and his Christian faith, is a major theme throughout much of his life. So too is his struggle against the increasingly savage grip of alcohol addiction. Unable to resolve these tensions, and for many years, frequently defeated by his struggle against alcohol, Alexander' s repeated moves back and forth between Africa and Britain, taking in periods working in the Mediterranean and the Far East also, reflect a restless and unquiet spirit. This is at times a harrowing story of an unconventional life, but despite the depths to which he sometimes sinks, Alexander never quite loses an almost childlike innocence and joy in life, and perhaps it is these qualities which ultimately prove to be his redemption: he is not a wicked man, just a conflicted man. The sense of place, of location, is explored with an acutely perceptive eye: we experience the heat and dust and scents and burning sun of the African tropics; the fresh, wind-blown, wave-tossed seas off the Cape Peninsula; and the wild beauty and isolation of a high, lonely glen in the West Highlands of Scotland. Alexander' s final years are contented ones. He comes to know peace and stability at last, and it is in just such a high, lonely West Highland glen that he sees out his final years.