A THOUSAND POINTS OF LIGHT by Marc-Vincent Jackson (Senegal)

Beautiful and determined, an outcast Senegalese woman clings relentlessly to dreams of her beloved savior, a lost folklore hero, returning to her from across the ocean …

Broken, but wise, a devoted griot painfully witnesses and faithfully tells her dogged plight, loving her from afar and mostly in vain …

Committed American volunteers zealously navigate a developing, culturally rich African country, becoming intimately immersed, and sometimes, unwittingly entangled …

Alienated and frustrated, one unsuspecting volunteer bitterly chronicles his uneasy experiences with unsparing criticism …

A desperate journey, an unspoken heart, patriotic dedication, and a candid diary lyrically meld into a seamless mystical reality with surprising results.

Inspired by his U.S. Peace Corps service during George H.W. Bush’s presidency, Marc-Vincent Jackson has written A Thousand Points of Light ‘s, and insightful debut novel that is an artfully written with an  engaging tale of interwoven lives and voices in 1980’s Senegal. It magically recounts an unappreciated Fatou Ka’s burning quest to be reunited with her true love, who turns out to be Malcolm Lavelle King, an unlikely, tragic antihero from Los Angeles serving as a disgruntled development volunteer.

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A Thousand Points of Light
Marc-Vincent  Jackson (Senegal 1986-89)
Page Publishing, 2021
484 pages
$32.95 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle)

A Peace Corps novel