James Monroe is a sophisticated American professional on mission for The World Bank in Africa during the early 1990's. Despite his worldiness, his actions betray a late Twentieth Century innocent abroad who embodies both the bravado and the debilitating insecurities of the modern American male.
Set in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Bombay, India, Mr. Monroe's journey into authenticity results in a series of failed relationships that reveal the dark, enigmatic recesses of his complex personality and eventually land him in a hellhole prison in Bombay. His tragedy unfolds into an ending that no one -especially Monroe- could have possibly predicted or imagined.
In its exploration of American male stereotypes and in its suggestion of vulnerability as a key to masculine authenticity, Victoria Falls dares to embrace those humane qualities of love, kindness and creativity that have of late been extolled as the provenance of soul searching women but have been largely ignored in American fiction about men.
Published by Green Writers Press, distributed by Midpoint Book Sales & Distribution.
Currently available for pre-order with an anticipated release date of January 2019.
“A SUSPENSEFUL, COMPLEX, AND SENSITIVE NOVEL, A MID-LIFE COMING OF AGE.”
Since my divorce I sought out these moments where I reached an equilibrium – a temporary satisfaction when all the disparate parts of my existence seemed to coalesce due to a harmony of circumstance. Victoria Falls, where the unsuspecting Zambezi is flung headlong into the abyss seemed a great equalizer. A place of terror and authority – where man tempted fate with airplane antics and bungee jumps. A place of endless fascination, where people stand for hours just observing. The circumstance of the falls and all the unlikely events of the previous day reinforced my anonymity -- the quiet mystery that I longed to envelop my existence.
- JAMES MONROE | VICTORIA FALLS
“Hornor’s writing style is both subtle and precise allowing the reader to experience the courage and vulnerability of the protagonist. It is with this observant eye that we are moved to a new understanding of manhood, of what it means to be authentic in a culture rife with charlatans as role models.”
James Hornor
James Hornor is an educator, writer and speaker who lives with his wife and two children in Brunswick, Maine. For the past forty years he has taught and lectured at both the secondary school and college levels and has served as Academic Dean at boarding schools in both Maine and New Hampshire. Mr. Hornor recently completed a six year tenure as a board member at Marymount Manhattan College in NYC.