Elspeth Huxley Books

Elspeth Joscelin Huxley CBE (1907 - 1997) was a writer, journalist, broadcaster, environmentalist, farmer and government advisor. She wrote 30 books but she is best known for 'The Flame Trees of Thika' and 'The Mottled Lizard' which were based on her experiences growing up on a coffee farm in colonial Kenya.

The Flame Trees Of Thika: Memories Of An African Childhood by Elspeth Huxley (1959). In an open cart Elspeth Huxley set off with her parents to travel to Thika in Kenya. As pioneering settlers among the Kikuyu natives, they built a house of grass, ate off a damask spread over packing cases and discovered - the hard way - the world of the African.

White Man's Country: Lord Delamere And The Making Of Kenya by Elspeth Huxley (1935). Two Volumes. It is a biography of the Kenyan settler Lord Delamere. He slowly became the unofficial 'leader' of the colony's European community.

Murder On Safari by Elspeth Huxley (1938) is a murder mystery set during a big game safari in Africa. Odd blurb by Teddy Roosevelt Jr who advocates open season on dilettante hunters.

The Mottled Lizard by Elspeth Huxley (1962) carries on the story of when the family return to Kenya after the First World War.

With Forks And Hope: An African Notebook by Elspeth Huxley (1964) is a survey of the political, social and anthropological future of Africa, offering a variety of topics ranging from Uganda's prime minister to the dwindling rhinoceros population.

On The Edge Of The Rift: Memories Of Kenya by Elspeth Huxley (1962). This is the title of the US version of 'The Mottled Lizard'. Free eBook

Out In The Midday Sun: My Kenya by Elspeth Huxley (1985). The author returned to Kenya in 1933 and writes about her adult life and the legendary personalities in the heyday of colonial Kenya. Kindle Version

The Challenge Of Africa by Elspeth Huxley (1971) covers the discovery and exploration of Africa starting in 1434 with Henry the Navigator, prince of Portugal.

Livingstone And His African Journeys by Elspeth Huxley (1974). David Livingstone was not only an explorer and a geographer, but an anthroplogist, botanist, ethnologist, astronomer and above all, medical missionary. Huxley, an acclaimed writer on Africa gives an excellent account of his life and work.

Nellie: Letters From Africa by Elspeth Huxley (1980) is the correspondence, spanning more than forty years, with the author's mother which reflects the minutiae of life. Nellie writes about commonplace things and characters in a way that brings them vividly before the reader's eyes, providing an intriguing record of the life style of an unconventional white settler in the East African Protectorate in bygone days. A look at life in Kenya from 1912, through the Mau Mau emergency to the independent Republic of Kenya.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice: A Journey Through East Africa by Elspeth Huxley (1948) is about her journey from Zanzibar to the Congo, through Tanganyika, Kenya and Uganda, observing everywhere both people and conditions and the great question whether the sorcerer's apprentice can learn to control the magic.

Four Guineas: A Journey Through West Africa by Elspeth Huxley (1954)is an account of Elspeth Huxley's travels in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast and Nigeria. She shows her passionate interest in the region's history, superstitions, tribal ways, beauties and potentialities and above all in the human beings she meets there.

Murder At Government House by Elspeth Huxley (1937) is the author's first novel - a murder mystery set in Africa.

Death Of An Aryan by Elspeth Huxley (1939) was also published as 'African Poison Murders' and is the third of her pre-war murder mysteries set among contemporary white Kenyan society.

Red Strangers by Elspeth Huxley (1938) is a novel recounting the coming of the British ( the 'red strangers') to East Africa from the imagined point of view of the Kikuyu (among whom Elspeth Huxley grew up).

Atlantic Ordeal: The Story Of Mary Cornish by Elspeth Huxley (1941). Mary Cornish was one of ten adult escorts who were engaged to accompany 90 evacuee children during a voyage from England to Canada in the liner 'City of Benares'. In September 1940, the liner was sunk in the Atlantic by a u-boat and Mary Cornish and 45 other survivors spent eight days in an open boat before they were rescued.

African Dilemmas by Elspeth Huxley (1948)

Settlers Of Kenya by Elspeth Huxley (1948)

The Walled City by Elspeth Huxley (1948) is a novel set in Northern Nigeria under British colonial administration in the period following the First World War.

I Don't Mind If I Do by Elspeth Huxley (1950) is a humorous look at domesticity.

A Thing To Love by Elspeth Huxley (1954) is a novel set in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising.

No Easy Way: A History Of The Kenya Farmers' Association & Unga Limited by Elspeth Huxley (1957) is the story of the wheat-growing pioneers of Kenya Colony. Huxley is writing about what she knows best and gives fascinating insights into early Kenya settler society and some of its major players, and into the first stages of the development of the colony and its farming and industry.

The Red Rock Wilderness by Elspeth Huxley (1957) is a powerful novel set in the French Congo and involving big business, intrigue and the magic forces of old Africa. Free eBook

A New Earth: An Experiment In Colonialism by Elspeth Huxley (1960)

The Merry Hippo by Elspeth Huxley (1963) is a novel of suspense set in Africa. Murder surrounds the negotiations for independence of Hapana, a fictitious African country.

A Man From Nowhere by Elspeth Huxley (1964)

Back Street, New Worlds: A Look At Immigrants In Britain by Elspeth Huxley (1964) is essentially an expanded compilation of 12 articles on immigrants published in Punch magazine in 1964.

Brave New Victuals: An Inquiry Into Modern Food Production by Elspeth Huxley (1965) is an inquiry into intensive food production and the affect on both the land and the rearing of animals.

Their Shining Eldorado: A Journey Through Australia by Elspeth Huxley (1967) is based on a four month, intensive exploration in 1965 in which the author travelled widely in every continental state and territory of Australia.

Love Among The Daughters by Elspeth Huxley (1968) is the third of her autobiographical narratives and tells of a return from Kenya for schooling in her native England at the University of Reading and then, in America, at Cornell.

The Kingsleys: A Biographical Anthology by Elspeth Huxley (1973) is an account of Charles Kingsley, Henry Kingsley and George Kingsley's careers and their impact on their times, together with a selection of their best writings.

Florence Nightingale by Elspeth Huxley (1975) is a biography of Florence Nightingale which concentrates on the contradictory personality of this extaordinary woman, by turns a bullying martinet, a loyal friend, a compassionate nurse, a witty companion, a writer of sermons and a masterly manipulator of men.

Gallipot Eyes: A Wiltshire Diary by Elspeth Huxley (1976) is an evocative diary of village life the author kept between 1974 and 1975. She has perfectly captured the fast vanishing way of English village life.

Scott Of The Antarctic by Elspeth Huxley (1978) is a biography of the leader of the British Antarctic Expedition, which was beaten to the Pole by one month by the Amundsen expedition. Huxley takes the view that far from being a glamorous explorer, Scott was a reluctant hero, a complex, obstinate and reticent man.

Whipsnade: Captive Breeding For Survival by Elspeth Huxley (1981) was published to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of Whipsnade Zoo.

The Prince Buys The Manor: An Extravaganza by Elspeth Huxley (1982) ia a comic novel about a royal prince buying a manor in a quiet Cotswold market town.

Last Days In Eden by Elspeth Huxley & Hugo van Lawick (1984) is a celebration of the legendary strongholds of wildlife in Africa. The authors travelled to the Serengeti, the Gol Mountains, the Olduvai Gorge, the Ngorongoro Crater and Manyara.

Nine Faces Of Kenya: Portrait Of A Nation by Elspeth Huxley (1990). In nine sections focusing on exploration, travel, settlement, war, hunting, wildlife, environment, lifestyles, and legend and poetry, Elspeth Huxley guides the reader through the story of Kenya with her characteristic candour and directness.

Peter Scott: Painter And Naturalist by Elspeth Huxley (1993) is an intriguing biography of Peter Scott, the father of conservation, and co-founder of the World Wildlife Fund. Behiind Scott's charm and single-minded devotion to his chosen causes, Huxley reveals a complex character.

Books Related To Elspeth Huxley:

C S Nicholls

Elspeth Huxley: A Biography by C S Nicholls (2003). "A woman of compelling personality, exceptionally energetic and effective in everything she did, Elspeth Huxley was not only a celebrated writer, but a farmer, broadcaster, journalist, conservationist, political thinker, magistrate and government adviser. She was a vivid chronicler of colonial Kenya, and became increasingly recognised as an observer and interpreter of African affairs over a period of profound change. Initially a staunch defender of the white settlers she would come to support moves towards African independence."

Red Strangers: The White Tribe Of Kenya by C S Nicolls (2005) is a history of the life and work of the British government, settler farmers, adventurers etc in Kenya from 1890 to 1963. The title is borrowed from Elspeth Huxley's book 'Red Strangers' who also wrote about the the British settlers from the Kikuyu point of view. This book describes the hazards, disappointments and tedium for pioneers and adminstrators who often found themselves in remote, malaria infested zones where many lost their lives.