Book description
Growing up in Kenya in the early twentieth century, the brothers Matu
and Muthegi are raised according to customs that, they are told, have
existed since the beginning of the world. But when the 'red' strangers
come, sunburned Europeans who seek to colonize their homeland, the lives
of the two Kikuyu tribesmen begin to change in dramatic new ways. Soon,
their people are overwhelmed by unknown diseases that traditional magic
seems powerless to control. And as the strangers move across the land,
the tribe rapidly finds itself forced to obey foreign laws that seem at
best bizarre, and that at worst entirely contradict the Kikuyu's own
ancient ways, rituals and beliefs. Elspeth Huxley (1907-1997) was the
daughter of Major Josceline Grant of Njoro, Kenya where she spent most
of her childhood. She was educated at the European School in Nairobi and
at Reading University where she took a diploma in agriculture, and
atCornell University. In 1929 she joined the Empire Marketing Board as a
press officer and, following her marriage to Gervase Huxley in 1931,
travelled widely with him in America, Africa and elsewhere.
