Book description
Tick Bite Fever is the unconventional memoir of a very
unconventional childhood.
In the early Seventies, Dave Bennun's family transplanted themselves
from Swindon to the wilds of Kenya. His father, who was a doctor, had
lived in Africa before (but had felt it expedient to leave when the
South African government realised he was carting explosives around in
the boot of his car for the ANC). For Dave, Kenya was bemusingly new.
It would be his home for the next 16 years.
In Kenya, the childhood memoir takes on a rather surreal tone! On
the way home from school, closed because a pair of lions are padding
around the playground, Dave is mugged by baboons. Meet Dave's
favourite pet Achilles, the almost indestructible dog! Find out about
'Nairobi snow' - and the national radio station that only has three
records. And read about Dave and his Dad spending happy Sunday
afternoons being chased by a herd of elephants. Enchantingly funny,
Tick Bite Fever is a tale of the fading innocence of
childhood, miles ahead of the competition.
Born in Swindon in 1968, Dave Bennun's family moved to Zambia in
1971. In 1973 the family moved to Kenya where they lived for the next 16
years. He has worked at Melody Maker and at Loaded. He is now freelance
and writes for The Guardian, Observer, Mail on Sunday, Sunday Telegraph
and GQ.
