The Last King of Scotland

£7.99

Giles Foden’s first novel The Last King of Scotland is told from the point of view of Nicholas Garrigan, a young Scottish doctor, who comes to Uganda when he accepts a position with the Ministry of Health. His arrival in Kampala, the capital city, coincides with Idi Amin’s coup overthrowing President Obote. After a few days he moves out to the bush to begin his assignment but is then called back when Amin is involved in a freak accident featuring his sports car and a cow. Within a few months Garrigan becomes the president’s personal physician and quickly descends into a position where he is squeezed between his duty to his patient and his own government’s attempts to have him help them control Amin.

Amin’s character is not a simple one of a monster but is actually often appealing. Garrigan is cast as an average man, like us, who falls under Amin’s spell and suffers a moral slide from the little compromises he makes - it could happen to nearly anybody. Along the way the reader is treated to a stirring portrait of Africa’s natural, political and social complexity. An amazing story of tropical corruption and an extraordinarily well researched account of Uganda and one of Africa's most notorious leaders.