A Pillar of the Community. This item is unavailable.A Pillar of the Community

In an attempt to conceal what he considers to be a major crime brought on by a scandalous sexual indiscretion, a highly-placed, highly-respected Sierra Leonean public officer, who has been leading a double life, inadvertently places himself in the power of a vicious thug, a witness to the “crime.” Set in the author’s native Sierra Leone, A Pillar of the Community is about the gripping and potentially deadly relationship between the “witness” and the protagonist, as the two men—one a malevolent and sadistic embodiment of evil and the other a hypocritical and immoral public servant —get tangled in a web of intrigue, power and blackmail. The novel is a penetrating study of evil, religious hypocrisy, the exploitation of women and the exercise of power. All this is set against a well-textured background of social and moral corruption. It is a novel of social comment that moves relentlessly to an unexpected and alarming conclusion. There is vibrant evocation of local color and the attitudes of segments of the people of this fascinating West African country.

Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Eustace Palmer was educated at the Prince of Wales School and in the United Kingdom, where he obtained an MA and Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh in English Language and Literature. Returning to Sierra Leone, he taught in the English Department of Fourah Bay College, the University of Sierra Leone, eventually becoming Professor and Chair of English, Dean of the Arts Faculty, and Dean of Graduate Studies. He emigrated to the United States in 1992 and is currently Professor of English and Coordinator of Africana Studies at Georgia College and State University. As well as being past President of the African Literature Association, he has written five books of criticism on English and African literatures. Apart from "A Pillar of the Community", Eustace Palmer is the author of three other published novels: "A Hanging Is Announced", "Canfira’s Travels", and "A Tale of Three Women".