King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village by Peggielene Bartels
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
King Peggy is the real life story of Peggielene Bartels, a U.S. citizen and secretary at Ghana's Embassy in Washington who three years ago was awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call with news that her uncle had died and that she had been selected to succeed him as king of Otuam, a fishing village on the coast of Ghana. Peggy accepted the crown (actually she was "enstooled") and now divides her time between being a secretary at the Ghanaian Embassy (still) and King of Otuam.
Of course becoming King was just the start of the story. Bartels' book chronicles her difficulties dealing with the corruption, the grinding poverty, and the lack of infrastructure in her tiny village. Anyone who has spent much time in Africa will recognize and appreciate the struggles as well as the usual cast of "characters" in Otuam.
While I enjoyed the book, I found that by the end of the book Bartels' ended up sounding prideful with what all she took credit for ("I brought these people water...I gave them hope..." etc...) Even the concluding words of the complete title (..."How She changed an African Village") was a bit conceited-sounding. I also cringed repeatedly at the mish-mash of religious beliefs Bartels adheres too - like many Ghanaians she ends up coming across as a Christo-Animist and is not shy at all about jumbling prayers to Jesus, her ancestors and a whole assortment of local deities (she boasts her village is home to dozens of local gods). But then I know this is very common in Africa so I tried to make allowance for that.
All in all this is a good book. You will enjoy this improbable tale; it's good story-telling with lots of colorful humor; I gave it three stars.
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