‘Pleasures of the Harbour’ a good read

Pleasures of the Harbour by Adam Kethro, published by Tracey McDonald Publishers, 2022.

This first novel by ex-businessman Adam Kethro, has some distinct autobiographical tinges. Perhaps the main character is fashioned on his own life – bearing his first name may not be the only similarity.

The book describes how the cocky young man with a middle-class background rises into the international business sphere, with no degree, no training and no business background.

Adam Askew’s nature drives him to find, and take advantage of opportunities in the shipping business, into which he stumbled on the docks in Durban. His story takes the reader on an insightful trip into the mind of a natural (business) gambler, whose chutzpah saw him establish his own business and then take it to dizzying heights in Johannesburg, London and Europe while living the high life.

Inevitably he came head-to-head with dodgy business partners whom he later tried to get rid of, and having made enemies along the way, he is forced to navigate a maze of attempts to bring the company down around every corner.

Pleasures of the Harbour is set in a time when South Africa was suffering under international business sanctions, and Askew, not to be outdone, found many loopholes to grow his business – notably into Africa. He even landed up in Chikurubi, Zimbabwe’s most notorious prison, where his cellmate died next to him.

Readers are in for a ride in this action and adventure-packed novel. Apart from the wheeling and dealing, Askew’s private life reads like that of a true businessman… His first marriage was a business deal that later came to a grinding halt yet not all was lost on the romantic front. And ultimately, Askew’s life lessons are eminently readable.

Author Adam Kethro retired from business and this is his first, but hopefully not last, novel.

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