Short description
It is 1912 in Africa, and a rich young man goes to Northern Rhodesia and creates an idyllic English style of life. But life changes with the political scene in the 1960s and 70s and tragedy hits the family.
Long description
A book about Africa, with strong elements of Kuki Gallmann's I dreamed of Africa , combined with the same spirit as Philip Marsden's The Bronsky House . It is the story of a lost world and lost time in Africa. In 1912, a rich young man goes to Northern Rhodesia and builds a most magnificent house in the middle of nowhere on the edge of a lake. He builds this mansion in 2000 acres of land, and eventually has 10,000 employees.;Here, he creates a totally British style of living in the form of libraries, billiard rooms, and cocktail parties. Life changes with the political scene in the 1960s and 70s as tragedy hits the family. The home is abandoned overnight. the author, with the founders' grandson. drove for nine hours north of Lenaka and found the crumbling mansion. This is the story of the family and their home.
Review
The true story of how in 1927 the wealthy romantic imperialist Stewart Gore-Browne built a palatial mansion complete with tower, library, gardens and servants' quarters (for his uniformed black staff) in the middle of the African bush where he lived with an orphan girl half his age. It is unclear whether we should see this bizarre and ultimately disastrous enterprise in retrospect as a piece of English eccentricity or as an imperialist racist fantasy. Either way this is an unusual story, well told. (Kirkus UK)