Rachel Cade is a heartwarming and often intense story of one woman’s strength and determination to survive more than a few battles against the odds in the heart of darkest Africa. Transporting herself from small town America in the late 1930’s to the center of the East Congo region of Africa as a missionary with plans to build a hospital in a small village, Rachel Cade appears to be a strong-willed stubborn woman in need of drowning her fears of the past by bringing medicine and the Christian faith to the Congo people. The daily struggles of lack of supplies and the need of a talented surgeon who could save the lives of a dying people, have Rachel exhausting her resources and close to admitting defeat to her plans of helping her African friends that are desperately in need of medical assistance.

When an airplane plummets from the sky deep into the African bush, Rachel rescues the sole survivor of the crash only to learn that the man is an American surgeon working with the RAF. Nursing Paul Wilton back to health brings Rachel the much-needed physician the village needs, and a love affair that will both torment and excite Rachel’s need for a partner in more ways than one. When Paul is called back to the war effort in Europe, our heroine is now torn between love and loss, and the anguish of raising their illegitimate son alone in the African bush country as she waits patiently for the war to end.

Mercer’s ability to evoke the true nature of what daily life in a small African village is really like, will be both exquisite and exciting to the reader as he transports us to a foreign world of the unknown deep into a land of wild animals, vast panoramic vistas, and to an uncivilized yet cherished land before the war. Rachel’s battle of modern healthcare versus the magic of village medicine men full of ritual and the beliefs of their ancestors, her inner turmoil over a tragic past and her unforeseeable future, along with her love of two men that brings difficult choices, all make for a thought provoking tale of love, loss and survival for a distressed woman whose only need is love and contentment in a country she can’t leave and now calls home. An exotic landscape, strong character development, and an adventurous plot full of mystery and wonder, make this historical novel a winner. ( )

Charles Mercer was a journalist who traveled to Africa "to write a series of articles about the imprint of white civilization upon Central and West Africa," as he puts it in his own explanation of Rachel Cade as it appears on the back cover of this book. As he traveled, he says, the idea for the novel formed, "{y}et is doubtful that Rachel Cade would have been born if I had not eventually gone to the Ruwenzori, better known as the Mountains of the Moon, the fabulous snow-capped range that rises close to the equator in the heart of the continent."

Mercer published Rachel Cade in 1956. It takes place during the years just before and during World War Two. The setting is a small fictional village Dibela, in what was then the Belgian Congo. The heroine is an American nurse and missionary (much more nurse than missionary, in fact) who is sent to this remote village to help the local European doctor. The night she arrives, the doctor dies of angina. Soon thereafter, the war begins, assuring that no replacement doctor is likely to arrive any time soon. And so the novel begings, as Rachel sets out to put affairs in order and win the respect of the local villagers. A veteran of previous African assignments, she is no stranger to the local culture and knows the language.

OK, so that's the set up. I found the book to be enjoyable. It is certainly told from a European perspective. For example, the influence of the Belgian overlords is depicted as remote and mostly benign. yet with a very healthy dose of respect for African customs and a love for the countryside and natural life of the area. Many of the physical descriptions are vividly and lovingly rendered. Mercer also attends effectively, I think, to Rachel's inner life and emotions. Yet there is more than a touch of the "romantic novel" to this book. Rachel, and many of the African villagers who befriend her, are a bit too good to be believed, and her eventual love interests unfold with nary a surprise to them.

Still and all, I enjoyed reading this book. I also felt I learned more than a little about the culture of the Congo countryside of this era. How realistic a picture I was shown is, certainly, a matter of conjecture, however. Anyway, the book is well written enough to be taken at face value as an entertaining novel. ( )