No, we're not talking Bonnie Prince Charlie here. The title character of Giles Foden's debut novel,
The Last King of Scotland, is none other than Idi Amin, the former dictator of Uganda. Told from the
viewpoint of Nicholas Garrigan, Amin's personal physician, the novel chronicles the hell that was Uganda
in the 1970s. Garrigan, the only son of a Scots Presbyterian minister, finds himself far away from
Fossiemuir when he accepts a post with the Ministry of Health in Uganda. His arrival in Kampala coincides
with the coup that leads to President Obote's overthrow and Idi Amin Dada's ascendancy to power. Garrigan
spends only a few days in the capital city, however, before heading out to his assignment in the bush.
But a freak traffic accident involving Amin's sports car and a cow eventually brings the good doctor into
the dictator's orbit; a few months later, Garrigan is recalled from his rural hospital and named personal
physician to the president. Soon enough, Garrigan finds himself caught between his duty to his patient
and growing pressure from his own government to help them control Amin. From Nicholas Garrigan's catbird
seat, Foden guides us through the horrors of Amin's Uganda. It would be simple enough to make the dictator
merely monstrous, but Foden defies expectation, rendering him appealing even as he terrifies. The doctor
"couldn't help feeling awed by the sheer size of him and the way, even in those unelevated circumstances,
he radiated a barely restrained energy...I felt--far from being the healer--that some kind of elemental
force was seeping into me." And Garrigan makes a fine stand-in for Conrad's Marlow as he travels up
a river of blood from Naivete to horrified recognition of his own complicity. As if this weren't enough,
Foden also treats us to a finely drawn portrait of Africa in all its natural, political, and social
complexity. The Last King of Scotland makes for dark but compelling reading.

About The Reader
Peter Forbes is a Scottish actor. On television Forbes had an appearance in Casualty, Berkeley Square and
The Bill. Peter Forbes trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and graduated in English from Edinburgh
University. One of his most remarkable roles was in the musical Mamma Mia! at the Prince Edward Theatre in
London. Other theatre works include the Shakespearean roles in Twelfth Night, Richard III and A Midsummer
Night's Dream. On television Forbes had an appearance in Casualty, Berkeley Square and The Bill.

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