The author was born in 1906, the daughter of Major Josceline Grant of Njoro in Kenya where she spent most of her childhood In an open cart she set off with her parents to travel to Thika and as pioneering settlers among the Kikuyu, they built a house of grass, ate off a damask cloth spread over packing cases and discovered - the hard way - the world of the African - a book by one who loves the country with a critical understanding and intense feeling for its wild beauty