Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin (Non-Classics) (1982), Paperback, 336 pages
Description
"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. Her family and friends, their home and their travels, the glorious wildlife and scenery, described in rich and loving detail, all spring to life in this enchanting book. 'She knows East Africa and she loves it. . . with a critical and understanding sympathy. ' The Times 'What a marvellous writer. . . and what a Kenya it was. ' Financial Times"
User reviews
LibraryThing member herschelian
Sequel to "The Flame Trees of Thika" a really enchanting tale of a girl growing up in Kenya between the wars.
LibraryThing member sara_k
Elspeth Huxley spent most of her childhood in Kenya and her earliest experiences are chronicled in her book The Flame Trees of Thika.
The Mottled Lizard picks up Elspeth's life after the War. Elspeth and her family return to Kenya and Thika. Elspeth's parents, Robin and Tilly, work endlessly and
Elspeth writes anonymous reviews of country life and polo matches for pocket money and raises a cheetah and other animals. She is very matter of fact about her hunting for food and the interior dialogue that she engages in after going on hunting safari. She relates much of the gossip that surrounded her with a laugh at herself for having missed most of the implications. I found her description of interations between the colonists, Kikuyu, Wakambi, Dorodo, and Masai very interesting. She is able to see differences in how each set of people understands the world affects their interactions. She also sets forth different views from people around her about civilization and what it really means...from those who feel that the colonists are losing their civilized ways to those who feel that real civilization comes from totally abandoning Western ways. Elspeth's descriptive language is exquisite.
I bought this copy at the thrift store for .60 but as I read the book fell apart. I'll probably buy another copy to keep next to Flame Trees of Thika.
The Mottled Lizard picks up Elspeth's life after the War. Elspeth and her family return to Kenya and Thika. Elspeth's parents, Robin and Tilly, work endlessly and
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yet can't seem to get ahead. Unlike some of their fellow colonists, they fully enjoy the land and their experiences as they live them. Other people become bogged down in the hardships or else let go of all responsibility and party until their lives collapse. Elspeth writes anonymous reviews of country life and polo matches for pocket money and raises a cheetah and other animals. She is very matter of fact about her hunting for food and the interior dialogue that she engages in after going on hunting safari. She relates much of the gossip that surrounded her with a laugh at herself for having missed most of the implications. I found her description of interations between the colonists, Kikuyu, Wakambi, Dorodo, and Masai very interesting. She is able to see differences in how each set of people understands the world affects their interactions. She also sets forth different views from people around her about civilization and what it really means...from those who feel that the colonists are losing their civilized ways to those who feel that real civilization comes from totally abandoning Western ways. Elspeth's descriptive language is exquisite.
I bought this copy at the thrift store for .60 but as I read the book fell apart. I'll probably buy another copy to keep next to Flame Trees of Thika.
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LibraryThing member MarysGirl
I pulled this from a "First sentence" Bookcrossing.com virtual book box. The sentence that caught my fancy was, "Just before she sailed, Tilly got a telegram from Robin saying; 'Please bring shaving brush and windmill.'" This combination of the prosaic and exotic carried through in this story about
Huxley takes the reader on a delightful journey as her family struggles to make the farm profitable, deals with native workers, and socializes with the other white elite; always with an eye to moving on to less settled land or the next ground floor deal in minerals, marmalade, or maize. The author gets her start in writing as a young teen by anonymously submitting polo match coverage to the local newspaper and using the money to buy books on poetry and magic tricks. Funny, poignant, insightful - the reader is swept up in the majesty and beauty of the land and animals, the prevailing attitudes of the white colonists, and the coming of age of a young girl in a wild land. This was a delightful read.
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a place and time gone by. Huxley continues her memoirs started in The Flame Trees of Thika when her family returns to their Kenyan farm after WWI.Huxley takes the reader on a delightful journey as her family struggles to make the farm profitable, deals with native workers, and socializes with the other white elite; always with an eye to moving on to less settled land or the next ground floor deal in minerals, marmalade, or maize. The author gets her start in writing as a young teen by anonymously submitting polo match coverage to the local newspaper and using the money to buy books on poetry and magic tricks. Funny, poignant, insightful - the reader is swept up in the majesty and beauty of the land and animals, the prevailing attitudes of the white colonists, and the coming of age of a young girl in a wild land. This was a delightful read.
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LibraryThing member mahallett
continuing memoir of her love affair with africa, she makes all the discomforts seem small compared to the joys.
LibraryThing member kaitanya64
The second of Huxley's books that describes her childhood in Kenya. It is a classic of Kenyan literature, with Huxley's trademark not-quite-innocent narrator and her never-equaled descriptions not only of the how Kenya looks but how it sounds, smells and feels.
LibraryThing member markm2315
This memoir is the sequel to the Flame Trees of Thika. The story picks up after the author's return to Africa from England after the First World War and continues until she leaves for college. I think I was most struck by the extent of the author's preserved detailed memories of the colonial Kenya
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of her childhood. I thought the strength of the story was its characters, human and animal. Nostalgia for colonial Africa certainly has its problems for the modern reader, but the author was thoughtful and occasionally addresses the problems of the settler's relationship with native peoples and with the hunting of native wildlife that is now approaching extinction. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1962
Physical description
336 p.; 7 inches
ISBN
014005958X / 9780140059588