Testimony

The Story Behind A Change In Altitude

I lived in Kenya from 1975 to 1978 and worked as a deputy editor for an African magazine called Viva. I was often asked to write articles about various African people and had an opportunity to travel far and wide. I did actually climb Mt. Kenya and make it to the top, but as in all novels, the facts of my stay in Kenya formed only the barest skeleton on which to hang a story. I did have a lovely cottage in Karen, went to a Masai ceremony similar to the one described in the book, and often traveled to African family shambas for meals. I knew the expatriate community reasonably well. None of the characters in the book is based on anyone I ever knew -- particularly Margaret. I have not been back to Kenya since 1978. In the beginning, I had very young children and a trip was out of the question. Later, I began to discover that the country was seldom a very safe place to visit. I remember that several years ago, I got out a Fodor's to read about present-day Kenya: I believe the first sentence was: "Of all the countries we have ever reported on, Kenya is the most lawless." The situation is somewhat better today, but there is still a great deal of unrest. That said, I would love to return to the country of Luo and Kikuyu, of the tea plantations that shimmered in the distance, and of the island of Lamu, an exquisite, almost mystical, place of dreams. I still remember the colors vividly, and I have fond feelings for the wonderful people I met there. In 1978, I returned to this country just a couple of months before Jomo Kenyatta died -- thus ending the period of greatest stability in a country that was once thought to be the safest in Africa.

As for climbing Mt. Kenya, it was the most arduous physical endeavor of my entire life. Though the cast of characters was unlike those I have in the novel, the physical attributes of the mountain are described as I best remember them. The scree and the glacier were brutal, and I reached the top in a blizzard. I couldn't see a thing except tiny bits of white coming at me. I'm told that the glacier can no longer be safely crossed, and that in a very few years, there will be no ice at all on the mountain. Climate change.

A Change in Altitude is about Kenya, but it is also about a marriage and what can happen to that marriage as a result of a single catastrophic moment. It's a theme I often explore. I hope you enjoy the book.

Anita

Testimony

Mike It was a small cassette, not much bigger than the palm of his hand,and when Mike thought about the terrible license and risk exhibitedon the tape, as well as its resultant destructive power, it was asthough the two-by-three plastic package had been radioactive. Which it may as well have been, since it had produced somethingvery like radiation sickness throughout the school, reducing thevalue of an Avery education, destroying at least two marriages thathe knew of, ruining the futures of three students, and, mosthorrifying of all, resulting in a death. After Kasia brought Mike thetape in a white letter envelope (as if he might be going to mail it tosomeone!), Mike walked home with it and watched it on histelevision—an enormously complicated and frustrating task since hefirst had to find his own movie camera that used similar tapes andfigure out how to connect its various cables to the television so thatthe tape could play through the camera. Sometimes Mike wished hehad just slipped the offensive tape into a pot of boiling water, orsent it out with the trash in a white plastic drawstring bag, orspooled it out with a pencil and wadded it into a big mess. Althoughhe doubted he could have controlled the potential scandal, hemight have been able to choreograph it differently, possibly limitingsome of the damage. He lay his head back against the sofa and closed his eyes. Thehouse was empty and quiet. He could hear the wind skiddingagainst the windows and, from the kitchen, the sound of ice cubes tumbling in the Viking, recently installed. Tasks now needed to beaccomplished, students queried, the Disciplinary Committeeconvened, and all of this conducted beneath the radar of the press,which would, if they got wind of the story, revel in a private-school scandal. In this, Mike thought that private schools had been unfairlysingled out. He doubted that such a tape would have been of anyinterest to the press had it surfaced at the local regional highschool, for example. The tape might have circulated underground,students might have been expelled, and meetings might have beenheld, yet it was likely that the incident would have been greetedwith indifference not only by the local newspaper, the Avery Crier(its editor, Walter Myers, could be talked down from just about anystory that might cause embarrassment to local kids and parents),but also by the regional and national press. Copyright © 2008 by Anita Shreve