The Curve of the World Hardcover - 2002

From the publisher

When his plane is forced to make an emergency landing in a remote area of the Congo basin and rebels seize the aircraft, Lewis Burke, a New York businessman, flees into the rainforest, only to find himself alone in a world where no rules apply and with no apparent way out. As he struggles to survive under the thick canopy of trees, battling thirst and hunger in the unrelenting heat, he confronts his deepest fears-and his greatest disappointments: his crumbling marriage; his distant relationship with his seven-year-old son, Shane; and the lack of meaning in his life. When his wife, Helen, a former volunteer for World Aid, makes the daring decision to find him in Africa, "The Curve of the World" becomes a story of crossing barriers and regaining love and conviction.

As Helen and Shane journey upriver into the forbidding rainforest, bringing them closer to Lewis, Shane begins to have visions and dreams of his father. But just as Lewis cannot find his way out of the jungle, Helen is thwarted at every turn by the military conflict raging around them. In the end it is an unlikely hero, a young Congolese boy, who courageously guides Lewis through the forest and to a side of himself he thought he had lost.