In this sequel to The Flame of Thika, Elspeth Huxley takes up her story after the family returns to Kenya after the First World War. ' The Times 'What a marvellous writer. ' Financial Times
Elspeth Huxley Book order (chronological)
Elspeth Huxley was a prolific author whose works drew deeply from her extensive experiences in colonial Kenya. Her writing is characterized by a profound engagement with African development and a thoughtful exploration of both settler and indigenous life. Huxley deftly navigated between fiction and non-fiction, boasting a publishing career that spanned over six decades. With a background in agriculture and journalism, she became a significant interpreter of Africa to the outside world, even while acknowledging the inherent limitations of such a role. Her writings are valued for their nuanced portrayal of intercultural dynamics, despite later critiques of attitudes typical of her generation and colonial identity.
Nine Faces of Kenya
- 450 pages
- 16 hours of reading
In this marvelous anthology, Elspeth Huxley, our best and most popular writer on Africa, has drawn on her unparalleled knowledge of Kenya and its literature to present a fully rounded portrait of one of the most fascinating countries in the world. In nine sections focusing on exploration, travel, settlement, war, hunting, wildlife, environment, life-styles, and legend and poetry, using only first-hand accounts, she guides the reader through the story of Kenya from AD100 to the present with her characteristic candour and directness.
The Last of the Maasai
- 185 pages
- 7 hours of reading
This exquisitely beautiful series of books portrays the cultures, landscapes, fauna, flora and history of an individual country with over 150 stunning photographs and well-written and knowledgeable text. To nineteenth-century Europeans, they were the "noblest savages, " an elite corps of painted and feathered warriors, strangely aristocratic in their disdain of other people's civilization. For the Maasai, nothing has proved an inducement to change during the last 100 years: not peace for war; money for cattle; nor cities and settlement for the plains and open boundaries of their land covering much of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.
Run Rhino Run
- 136 pages
- 5 hours of reading
The flame trees of Thika : memories of an African childhood
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
"In an open cart Elspeth Huxley set off with her parents to travel to Thika in Kenya. As pioneering settlers among the Kikuyu people, they built a house of grass, ate off a damask cloth spread over packing cases and discovered - the hard way - the world of the African."
