Amie African Adventure.
Author: Lucinda E Clarke
Book Review by Steve Braker: Action Adventure Author.
Book Review
I was very keen to read this book as I live in East Africa and have done since 2000. I am also a writer of action and adventure stories based in Africa. Lucinda does a good job of depicting the average ex-pat, of that time, that came to live in Africa. Her explanation of the daily lives of ex-pat wives and partners and how they were separated from the rest of the continent by way of attitude and lifestyle was very clearly put. The story does take a while to get going as Lucinda labours the point of getting used to the completely different way of life. She also faithfully depicts the poverty that is all around us in most of the African countries I have visited. You can tell that Lucinda has an understanding of the dark continent and has obviously been here.
Without giving anything away the story is about a young housewife whose husband gets offered a major project in an African country. Lucinda has made the decision to use a made-up country for this book. After the initial trepidation and the huge change of lifestyle, the couple settled into the ex-pat life. I thought that Lucinda gave a great description of what it is like for someone who lives abroad to go back to their old neighbourhoods and meet with people you went to school with etc. Once you have traveled and lived abroad your mind has been altered forever and finding yourself in a group of people that have not traveled is quite an eye-opener, to say the least.
Amie’s life continues in this bubble of luxury in a country that has a distinctly unstable government and poverty pervades all aspects of a person’s life. When she thinks she has it all cracked and is starting to enjoy herself, it all falls apart. She manages to cross a powerful local official who turns her life upside-down. Amie manages to get herself into trouble and then the adventure really begins.
As the country starts to fall apart around her and the last plane to safety has left Amie has to fend for herself in this new and hostile world.
The story takes Amie on a life-changing journey of adventures while she tries to escape from the local militia. She finds herself alone and lost adrift in a country that she neither understands nor can communicate with. Amie then has to fight the incredibly hostile terrain and obviously, the dangerous animals to find her way to freedom.
I found the story entertaining it definitely has its moments where you are feeling for Amie and how this English flower will survive in the unforgiving world of Africa. The end was a little bit too predictable and the setup for the next book bit trite but all in all a good and entertaining read.
Overall, the book was a good read. I look at these books from a different point of view as I am an actual ex-pat who actually lives in East Africa. I agree with her portrayal of the average ex-pat and how they manage to lord it over the local community and generally take advantage of the immense difference between an ex-pat’s income and a local income. However, I would like to point out that the type of ex-pat described in Amie African Adventure is a dying breed. Nowadays we are much more involved with the local communities. It is important to understand the local culture and be able to speak the local languages. The days of the ex-pat sitting in the club sipping a G and T at 3 p.m. are long since gone!
I would recommend this book to any of my friends and readers who enjoy a good story about Africa.
Lucinda has a nice website that is worth visiting you can find it here: https://lucindaeclarkeauthor.com/amie-an-african-adventure/
I downloaded Amie African Adventure just click this link
I hope you enjoyed this review please leave a comment below. If you like action adventure with an African twist then I have a series of books called the William Brody Action Adventure Series. The first in the series is called African Slaver a look at how modern day slavery is destroying parts of Africa. My hero William Brody has to risk his life travelling the length of Kenya to safe some young girls from being sold into slavery. This book is FREE to download just click this link: Here I hope you enjoy the read.
Yours Steve Braker.
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Below are some more useful links about Safaris in Africa- Enjoy!
Mark Dawson | The Vault
James A. Ross | Hunting Teddy Roosevelt
Wayne Stinnett, John Cunnigham, Nick Sullivan, Nicholas Harvey| Graceless
Through the Leopard’s Gaze | Njambi McGarth
The Sahara Legacy | Ernest Dempsey
Stephen King | A Memoir of the Craft
