The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood" by Elspeth Huxley, is a delightful book, about a girl who goes from England to Kenya at age six, where her parents run a coffee plantation.

The book describes an idyllic childhood, just as I think it should be for any child. I do have some bias in that I grew up in northern Tanzania for fourteen years, so the experiences Elspeth wrote about were vivid and realistic, especially in her experiences with the Kikuyu and Masaai tribal people. At times the book reveals a bit of colonial patrimony, and how British and Europeans settlers in Africa sometimes assumed it was their 'God-given' right to live a life of opulence amdist so much desparity and poverty.

This is one of my favorite books, but then again I have a lot of favorite books, and grateful that I've had decades to explore a life-long passion for reading and books. One hopes that even after death, you could at least take a few of your favorite books to pass the time away!

I don't really know how to rate this book. I found I could only read 5 to 10 pages at a time so it seemed to take forever to finish. The subtitle is Memories of an African Childhood but it is not strictly a memoir. Elspeth is only six to eight years old during the time period the books covers. She wrote this in 1959 looking back at her time in Thika. It is also not strictly a memoir because some of the people in the book are composites, not real individuals. So as much as it is a look back at her life at that time a lot of it is who could have been and what could have happened.

3.5 stars...
I would say this is less of a memoir and more fictional since the author describes (in great detail) her life in Kenya at the very young age of 7. She probably just embellished her stories based on what she could recall. It started out slow but picked up and the ending is nicely done. It was a bit difficult keeping up with who's who of the various expat settlers, but having borrowed this ebook from the library, I could easily search for them to refresh my memory. The pioneer folks that ventured off to Africa in the early 20th century were certainly cut from a different cloth. This is probably why the characters seemed to be quite an amusing, quirky and interesting lot, as were the natives (mainly the Kikuyu and Masai but also Dorobo and others). A funny juxtaposition of two different worlds that makes for a good read.

This was another book on the 'recommended reading list' for Kenya. The writing in this one is good but not like West with the Night. This was kind of 'Little House on the Prairie' meets Kenya. Enjoyable overall and I will probably try to read her sequel (The Mottled Lizard) which begins when she returns to Kenya after WWI.

One of my all time favorite books. I discovered this memoir when I was a young girl and I saw the BBC production/mini series. I read the source book back then and loved it. I read it again recently and still loved it. Both a portrait of Africa during imperialism, the struggle of the settlers in their harsh surroundings, and a coming of age story for a young girl. Many aspects of the book are not very politically correct but they reflect the feelings of the turn of the century when this occurred. The real star of this book is Africa and Huxley's prose paints a lovely picture of both the time and the place. This book is in the same vein as 'Out of Africa', but to me, it is so much more accessible because it is seen through the eyes of a child. This book inspired me to one day go to Africa - which I eventually accomplished right before I turned 40 - and that was one of the most amazing trips of my life. An enduring classic.

A talented author reflects on her childhood growing up on a struggling farm in Kenya. Her parents were British settlers, who built a small farm. She tells about their trip in an open cart to the land they had bought to settle. She describes her life there, the animals, the Masai and Kikuyu people who lived and worked around her, the beauty and harshness of the land. It is a child's view of it all.

I found the writing style a little rough and lacking in color. The stories were interesting because they were about a time and place so different from my own existence. But they were somewhat lacking in beauty and insightfulness. I did enjoy the descriptions of the cultures and beliefs of at least five very different groups of Africans that the author spent time with in her childhood. It's worth reading for the historical snapshot of European settlers in late 19th century Africa, but not for its literary value.

Delightful trip to Africa. It tell the story of two worlds, that of the European settlers and that of the African land, through the eyes of an observant, animal loving little girls. Some of the characters have some rather interesting reflections on their life in Africa. It is probably more than slightly fictionalized as conversations are remembered in great detail, which makes for an interesting and lively read.

This is a beautifully written memoir of Huxley's time on a Kenyan coffee farm when she was a young girl - I believe it starts when she's around six and covers a couple of years, up until the beginnings of World War One. So she was very young, and the prose here is immensely well-balanced. There are clearly currents - particularly in race relations and in romance - that six year old Elspeth has no real understanding of, and yet the Huxley who wrote this, and wrote it in her early fifties, I think, makes it absolutely clear to her adult readers what is happening, all the while filtering it through the perspective of a child who is more interested in making mud pies and riding her pony and being freaked out by soldier ants than anything else. This, admittedly, has the slightly unnatural effect of having young Elspeth appear rather more mature than she was, but that's the inevitable consequence of childhood recollections: they're always filtered through adult understanding.

Despite the undercurrents here, this isn't really a book that addresses any of the issues surrounding colonialism. Because it's told through the perspective of an adventurous child, there's a strong emphasis on wonder and exploration, shot through with bemusement at inexplicable adults and moments of sheer horror (most of which are to do with animal abuse, which is pretty rife, to be honest). More than anything it feels like a snapshot, I think, a sort of golden-tinted nostalgic haze, early memories of duikers and coffee plants and leopards. And it's lovely, as most snapshots of that kind are, but it also comes across as a bit romanticised... but then are the recollections of time as a happy six year old ever not?

An engrossing story, said to be largely autobiographical, seen through the eyes of a young girl in Pre-WWI Kenya. A pleasure to read.

I enjoyed the Masterpiece Theater version immensely but the book was far better. Huxley was a masterful writer. The language and her fidelity to point of view are almost flawless.

[image error]

video blurb - When a young Edwardian family leaves the shores of England to build a home in the wilderness of East Africa, what they encounter is beyond their imagination, but forever remembered by their 11-year-old daughter.

Based on the beloved memoir by Elspeth Huxley, THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA brings to life the color and adventure of another place and time. In 1913, Robin and Tilly Grant (Hayley Mills) arrive in Kenya with the dream of transforming a barren plot of land into a thriving coffee plantation. But torrential rains, relentless insects, and murderous animals, as well as relations with natives and other settlers, challenge their ambitions. Will England call them back? Or will the wide-eyed wonder of young Elspeth help unlock the mysteries of a foreign land and open the doors into the pleasures and rewards of a new home?

From the creator of Upstairs, Downstairs, THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA is an enchanting, critically acclaimed mini-series featuring seven episodes shot on location and filled with details both lavish and authentic.

Great beck-life adventure slowly told. Parents were not at all hands on - they left Elspeth at home alone over Hogmanay whilst they travelled into Nairobi to go to the races and the upshot was Elspeth hosted a party where all sorts of adult adventures ensued.

Lots of ju-ju against which they either use doses of Epsom Salts or call in the Catholic priests from further north as immunisation - lol. All in view of mount Kenya

Major fault with this TV series is that no-one aged even though we see infrastructure growth and the arrival of the railroad.

The most moving moment is when Elspeth seeks a tribal charm to preserve her little adopted duiker from the local python. The intersection of the indigenous and British in Thika is beautifully captured in her child's mind. "Every night I prayed that Twinkle might be preserved. I had faith in the charm, if only I could have been certain that it had been properly applied. With charms, everything had to be done exactly right..."

This book is a bit like Laura Ingalls Wilder's lovely stories about her own growing up years. Imagine those books, but moved into a setting in Africa.

****
Now that I've finished the book, I would probably not compare it to Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories. Wilder's stories were written originally for and about her beloved father, and portray many of the terrifying difficulties of pioneer life in a more gentle way.

This book, while interesting, is much more earthy and sobering. Yes, it is childhood in Africa in the early 1900's, but the portrayal of the pioneer life is anything but gentle. The reactions of the Europeans to the seeming indifference to suffering by the Kikuyu and Masai peoples, both suffering of people and suffering of animals, is presented pretty clearly. Elspeth is terrified that some of her pet animals might be stolen and used as ritual sacrifices, and the fate of a sacrificial animal is to be gutted alive, something she sees and reacts horribly to.

Her portrayal of her parents is both honest and a bit remote. Robin (her father) is much less practical in his plans while Tilly (her mother) is more practical and able to manage despite the overwhelming difficulties and lack of resources. Robin leads them into a poorly thought out endeavor, and Tilly somehow makes things work to keep them housed and fed and alive.