The book is subtitled, “An African Childhood”.  This delightful autobiography takes place in Rhodesia, where Alexandra’s parents slept with guns next to their bed and her father was often away, fighting with other white men against the guerillas who eventually won the war.  Her parents were poor, life was brutal and harsh, and the climate was always sticky and uncomfortable.  And yet, this is a tale laced with humor as she casts her child’s eye view at the many disruptions and disappointments of her family’s life as they moved from Rhodesia to Malawi and then to Zambia.

Ms. Fuller’s world was full of hot sweaty days, hard work, mosquitoes and ticks and snakes.  There is only occasionally electricity, drinking water is foul and any kind of plumbing is a luxury.  But there is always beer and alcohol, and lots of cigarettes, all of which is taken for granted as a way of life by her and her sister, the two surviving siblings out of five.  

The children sing songs about fighting through “thickandthin” and the family camps with other “expats-like-us”. Young Alexandra, nicknamed “Bobo”, learns to clean, load and shoot a gun.  Her father chain smokes cigarettes as he drives their Land Rover over inhospitable roads. Her mother loves animals and keeps packs of dogs around in a losing battle to control their fleas. The children attend boarding schools that change in racial composition as the politics change. And yet there is never a single word of self pity in spite of failing crops and ramshackle living conditions.

The Africa the author describes becomes real to the reader. There is a sense throughout of what it really felt like to be that little girl who grew up to share her memories with her readers. Read it. It’s a real treat!