The Empire Sketcher

In 19th Century maps the interior of Africa and Australia was a vast blank space. The men who explored those regions became legends: none more so than the missionary David Livingstone. But the men who accompanied Livingstone are now forgotten - and so is the dark side of Livingstone. Thomas Baines - explorer, adventurer and artist - was a man whose life rivaled that of Livingstone for wonder and excitement and who came to know the lesser-known side of the Livingstone legend. Baines had been caught up in the conflict between the British and the Boers in South Africa, he had faced danger and endured hardship on an epic voyage around the remote northern coast of Australia but nothing had prepared him for his ultimate test: an expedition into the heart of Africa with the popular hero Livingstone. The offer of a place seemed like a dream come true but it was to become a nightmare of betrayal and injustice. The dark heart was not that of Africa at all but of a missionary whose zeal for the Empire had overtaken his judgment and sense of fairness. This is the story, based on his own diaries and other original records, of Thomas Baines, of his battle with Livingstone and of the lost love that haunted him all his life.