Child of Happy Valley - Hardcover

Carberry, Juanita

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434007293 ISBN 13: 9780434007295

Publisher: Random House Uk Ltd, 1999

Synopsis

Juanita Carberry spent her childhood in the 1920s and 1930s on a beautiful Kenyan coffee farm. Brought up by her father's black servants and white governesses, much of her time was spent riding and with the tame wild animals, including chimps and cheetahs, who lived on the estate. Although her mother was killed in a flying accident when she was three, Juanita did not discover this until, when she was six, a cousin taunted her with the truth. For this was the White Mischief era, when parents were busy partying and children lived their own hidden lives.
But children cannot hide for ever. There was school to attend in Europe and later South Africa, a different establishment each year, where she struggled to speak English instead of Swahili. At fifteen Juanita became involved in the Lord Erroll affair: she is the only person to whom Delves Broughton confessed to the murder of Lord Erroll.
This is Juanita's story: a colourful and passionate memoir, which reveals the darkness behind glittering White Mischief society.

About this title

From AudioFile:

Early twentieth-century British settlers in Kenya were a mixed lot. Many were pioneers out to make a life, but an equal number were scandalously debauched and in search of the free life they could neither afford nor live back in England. Born thus into the "Happy Valley Set" in 1925, Juanita Carberry from the outset felt all the confusion, anxiety, and loneliness of a child with indifferent, even hostile, parents. Her only relief as a child came from the land of Kenya, its native people and fascinating wildlife. Briony Sykes narrates the story of this difficult childhood partly with the petulant rhythms of the gifted though angry child, but more often with a voice alive with delight at the newness of Kenya unfolding all around her. Both tale and reading captivate us with the richness and fascination of this world that once was but, sadly, can be no more. P.E.F. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Uk Ltd
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0434007293
• ISBN 13: 9780434007295
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208