Of Scottish descent, Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana on 7th March, 1952 and spent much of his early life there and in Nigeria where his mother was a teacher and his father, a doctor. There was one section that jarred - getting caught up in a civil war conflict - which for me didn't feel necessary to the plot (let's-add-action!

The contrast between these two parts of her life, as well as Western and African cultures, represents a central challenge for Hope (and thus Boyd) to integrate. The ideas in it about scientific ambition and evolution may not be particularly original, but they are very well presented, and Boyd even manages to make the maths discussions comprehensible and interesting, with something to say about the wider world. He wanted a mathematical theorem named after him, like Fermat, and what he failed to realize is that even geniuses are often forgotten by society at large; the important thing is to be happy with yourself, and to be important to those who love you.

Though Hope seems to have come to terms with the events of her life that led her to reside on Brazzaville Beach, the reader may not find it quite so easy. The author has created such an honest and sympathetic character in Hope that it seemed as if each time I began reading it was like spending time with a friend; an honest friend who isn't afraid to share her feelings.

The story is interesting enough so that you don't get hit over the head with the allegorical nature but are able to appreciate how well done it is. To make it a bit more lusty, he throws in quite a few explicite descriptions of chimpanzee bacchanal sex. At the age of nine years he attended Gordonstoun school, in Moray, Scotland and then Nice University (Diploma of French Studies) and Glasgow University (MA Hons in English and Philosophy), where he edited the Glasgow University Guardian. I could have done without that braid, and John’s story is interesting enough to warrant being set apart from Hope’s.I actually missed her once I’d finished the book, something that rarely happens with fictional characters and me. The novel felt disjointed in time and subject, and while I get that this was deliberate and added to the effect, I couldn’t get fully in the groove of it. Brazzaville Beach, a book written in a more serious tone and seems to be set in the Congo or in Angola, probably Angola, however, closer to the center of Africa, and, while there is a real “Brazzaville” in the Congo, this book doesn’t seem to be set there despite its title. Running concurrently is the story of Hope's marriage and her time as a behavioural scientist on chimpaneze.