This sequel to THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA continues the story of Elspeth Huxley's childhood in Kenya. British settlers, called to serve in WW I, return to their neglected farms and ranches.

For Tilly and Robin it is back to the struggle. For their daughter, now 11, it is back to the ponies, lessons at home, wild pets (this time a cheetah named Rupert), and hunting trips with Njombo, the Kikuyu headman.

But more is happening. The child narrator is growing into a woman. We lose the wide-eyed child narrator of Thika, but gain in her place a thoughtful and prescient observer of the rapidly changing continent.