Bride Price

Working and living in the forests of Zaïre during the reign of President Mobuto Sese Seko in the 1970s, Ian Mathie found himself the foster father of an orphaned girl. When a powerful and feared man from another village demanded that he set a 'bride price' for the child, Ian was forced to rely on his wits and courage to find a way within the rich traditions of the area to set a fair price that the man would nevertheless refuse to pay. BRIDE PRICE tells the gripping story of how this problem was resolved. Set in the brooding vastness of the tropical rain forest, it provides intimate insights into the lives of a little-known people and their complex relationship with their environment, the spirits and the outside world.

Ian Mathie spent his childhood in Africa and returned there, after school and a short service commission in the RAF, as a rural development officer working for the British government and several other agencies. His work in water resources and related projects during the 1970s brought him into close contact with the African people, their cultures and varied tribal customs, many of which are now all but lost. These experiences, recorded in his notebooks, were the inspiration for a series of African memoirs, of which Bride Price is the first volume. Ian continued to visit Africa until health considerations curtailed his travelling. He now lives in south Warwickshire with his wife and dog.