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The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood
In an open cart Elspeth Huxley set off with her parents to travel to Thika in Kenya. As pioneering settlers, they built a house of grass, ate off a damask doth spread over packing cases, and discovered -- the hard way -- the world of the African. With an extraordinary gift for detail and a keen sense of humor, Huxley recalls her childhood on the smart farm at a time when E...more
Paperback, 281 pages
Published
February 1st 2000
by Penguin Books
(first published 1959)
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In 1913, when the author was six years old, she and her mother and father went to British East Africa (B.E.A.) to start a coffee plantation. This was nearly 100 years ago, when that area was mostly unsettled. Her father bought some property, sight unseen, in the middle of nowhere among the Kikuyu people. This book was especially fascinating for me because everything was so incredibly different from modern times.
The story is very simply told from her very early memories, although I suspec...more
The story is very simply told from her very early memories, although I suspec...more
"The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood" by Elspeth Huxley, is an absolutely lovely recollection of childhood as it should be for every child. The daughter of two financially strapped, adventurous, and eternally optimistic parents, Elspeth recounts life in Thika in the bush of Kenya, where she spent her youth amongst the Kikuyu and Masai. She lived with nature, with superstitions, with death and love, and certainly writes about it all with great equanimity. She i...more
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This book reminded me a little bit of Little House on the Prairie with some adult bits thrown in. The main character is a young girl who comes to Kenya with her parents so that they can do the pioneering thing: working with the Kikuyu and Masai, planting coffee, grafting fruit trees, swapping spouses. Meanwhile the little girl waxes poetic about killer ants that can only be avoided with ashes, her pony, buffaloes, war dances, murder, and snippets of the adult world. Her view of Africa is somewha...more
This is basically "Ann of Green Gables" meets 1900s Colonial Africa. The memoirs of growing up British, on a plantation, pre-WW I, with all the expectations of upper crust British society meeting the African natives, their life styles and customs is truly culture clash. This was made into a Masterpiece Theater presentation (Hayley Mills was the mother)....good read and the history you learn is painless. The Mottle Lizard, the conclusion, is also very good...but I prefer the Flame Tr...more
The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood" by Elspeth Huxley, is a delightful book, about a girl who goes from England to Kenya at age six, where her parents run a coffee plantation.
The book describes an idyllic childhood, just as I think it should be for any child. I do have some bias in that I grew up in northern Tanzania for fourteen years, so the experiences Elspeth wrote about were vivid and realistic, especially in her experiences with the Kikuyu and Masa...more
The book describes an idyllic childhood, just as I think it should be for any child. I do have some bias in that I grew up in northern Tanzania for fourteen years, so the experiences Elspeth wrote about were vivid and realistic, especially in her experiences with the Kikuyu and Masa...more
I could not put this childhood adventure down..neglected everything
today..to complete this book!When I read the last sentence,I knew I'd joined the author on her journey!
Elspeth Huxley writes in plain sentence form of her experience in British East Africa aka Kenya of present day..at the foothills of Mt Kenya.She traveled with her parents to Thika in Kenya to live among the Kikuyu tribe where the houses were built of grass.Yet,she dined & had tea off a damask cloth spread over...more
today..to complete this book!When I read the last sentence,I knew I'd joined the author on her journey!
Elspeth Huxley writes in plain sentence form of her experience in British East Africa aka Kenya of present day..at the foothills of Mt Kenya.She traveled with her parents to Thika in Kenya to live among the Kikuyu tribe where the houses were built of grass.Yet,she dined & had tea off a damask cloth spread over...more
In 1913 Elspeth Huxley and her parents traveled from England to Kenya, where her father, Robin, had dreams of owning and running a coffee plantation. Robin was pretty clueless about methods he should use to fulfill his dreams, such as how to befriend the natives and convince them to come and work for him. His wife, Tilly, was adventuresome and resourceful; she kept house under primitive conditions, home schooled Elspeth, and befriended the British neighbors who gradually settled nearby. They ...more
I watched this book when it was a miniseries on Masterpiece Theater when I was 6. I loved it because my name is Elizabeth and the miniseries was about a little girl named Elspeth (this seemed exciting at the time because the Masterpiece Theatre miniseries then were usually -- my view at 6 -- stuffy costumed people and they never had little girls). Gulp ... 26 years pass ... and I wasn't sure what I would think about the story so many years later. I was not disappointed, and I really enjoyed th...more
This book jumped out at me on my last trip to Epilogue books. I'd never heard of it, and bought it on a whim. Of course it turned out to be quite famous, but to me it still seems a lucky find. Published in 1960, The Flame Trees of Thika relates Huxley's childhood in Kenya. The book begins with her family's move to Kenya in 1910 and details their trials homesteading. Huxley vividly conveys the wonder of the country's unspoiled wilderness, and it's fascinating to get a view of colonial race rela...more
I loved this book from page 1 - it is enchanting and I also felt like it was incredibly educational. It's sort of like 'Little House on the Prairie - Africa', but written in a much more mature style. (I love LHotP, don't misinterpret!) I particularly loved the way it reminded me of the incredible bond children can have with animals, and also just how true the adage "From the mouth of babes..." can be. I wish more adults could see the world through children's eyes. This book is an inter...more
Elspeth Huxley was remarkably observant despite her youth during her time in Kenya. The richness with which she tells of the landscapes, animals, and people she loved--even while preserving the wonder and naive misunderstandings of the young--is beautiful, and many of her metaphors capture the essence of things so truly as to be breathtaking themselves. The book meanders, and at times feels a little slow, and although the telling is with such exuberant interest, it is easy to lose track of cer...more
Loved it! Like Out of Africa, it takes place in a bygone age; one in which I wish I could have participated. This is also a memoir but told from the point of view of the author as a young girl. Her naivete makes the story much more appealing than it would have been if told from an adult perspective. It, too, is idealized. I doubt any of the black Africans would have been as enamored of the colonists had they been the authors. But, since I'm about to head off on Safari in Zimbabwe in a coup...more
I think I may over-romanticize colonial Africa, but somehow it seems to epitomize the adventurous, industrious spirit of turn-of-the-century Europeans, which I think can be described simply as ambitious and courageous. If you can look past the results of Euro-African colonization you'll see that these people were risk takers in the greatest sense of the the word. The majority of African settlers were different than what North American settlers were portrayed as. They weren't fleeing any social, ...more
The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley an autobiography of a 10 year old English girl (written many years afterwards) who, along with her family move to Kenya in the mid 1916s or so.
Comments from the back of the book:
“With and extraordinary gift for detail and a keen sense of humor, Elspeth Huxley recalls her childhood on a small farm in Kenya at the turn of the century. It was a time when Europeans waged their fortunes on a land that was as harsh as it was beautiful. For ...more
Comments from the back of the book:
“With and extraordinary gift for detail and a keen sense of humor, Elspeth Huxley recalls her childhood on a small farm in Kenya at the turn of the century. It was a time when Europeans waged their fortunes on a land that was as harsh as it was beautiful. For ...more
Huxley writes lyrically and perceptively about growing up in British East Africa. What I like most about this book is that it captures the wonder and curiosity of a young child quite convincingly. Huxley does a marvelous job bringing the Kikuyu and Masai people to life, and she does an equally impressive job portraying the wildlife and natural environment. This is a book filled with wonder. It's a very sensory book -- one can almost see, hear, smell, and taste Africa.
Another a...more
Another a...more
Sdianemac
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Neighbour gave me this book a couple of years ago and it has sat on my shelf since then. Finally came back to the top of my unread book pile so I read it. I found it hard to read because of the way the immigrants arrived, took over and treated the natives; the way the natives treated themselves and the animals. Seems like a never ending circle of pain and suffering for people, animals, and nature ....
I particularly enjoy her narration from the point of view of herself as a child. Though it's written years later, her childhood "Take" on things is entertaining-How you eavesdrop a lot, but also when kids lose interest and go back to their own kid-pursuits. I could really identify with and remember how kids navigate in and out of an all-adult setting. Of course the subject matter of British colonials in Kenya right before WWI is fascinating and informative, as well.
Beautifully written, The Flame Trees of Thika is a classic story portraying the European settlement of Africa (specifically Kenya) during the early part of the twentieth century. Interesting memoir of what told through the the eyes of a child growing up as a European in Africa. Interesting insight to some of the different native cultures and tribes of Africa.
This is Ms. Huxley's stories of a few of her childhood years spent in Thika (in what has become Kenya) as her parents try to start a coffee plantation. It includes their neighbors-British, Boer and native, particularly Kikuyu and Masai. Her descriptions are beautiful and her child's view of the adults' world is delightful.
So good! I have a weird thing for books about white people in Africa (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Out of Africa, The Poisonwood Bible), and this is a new favorite. Huxley is a lovely writer and is especially good at recounting adult situations from a child's perspective. Plus, the love story between Lettice and Ian Crawfurd KILLS me.
An engrossing story, said to be largely autobiographical, seen through the eyes of a young girl in Pre-WWI Kenya. A pleasure to read.
I enjoyed the Masterpiece Theater version immensely but the book was far better. Huxley was a masterful writer. The language and her fidelity to point of view are almost flawless.
I enjoyed the Masterpiece Theater version immensely but the book was far better. Huxley was a masterful writer. The language and her fidelity to point of view are almost flawless.
A delightful account of Elspeth Huxley's childhood in British East Africa/Kenya -- somewhat fictionalized with names changed. The series are all wonderful, to an Africaphile: Out in the Midday Sun and The Mottled Lizard.
One of the most beautiful evocations of childhood I've ever read, and a lyrical lovesong for colonial East Africa (a beastly place/time my many accounts, and one that set the stage for Kenya's "birth" as an independent nation).
There was a really great PBS adaptation of this book that I watched many years ago. I was thrilled to find that I liked the book every bit as much and more. I like the way the author remains true to a child's perspective.
Rec. in World Magazine. Through Elspeth Huxley's marvelous gift for description, early twentieth-century Kenya comes alive with all the excitement and naïve insight of a child who watches with eyes wide open.
Really lovely. She was able to capture her childhood recollections and express them without much adult overlay. Just very straightforward, as a child would be.
Conchetta
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This is a memoir of life on a farm in Africa in the early 20th century. Gives a good description of the attitude of the Europeans towards Africa and Africans.
Although told from the point of view of the child, the narrative voice is distinctly adult-like. I love reading books about Africa.
An alltime favorite, have read at least three times. BBC adaptation 1981, starring Hayley Mills, led me to the books of Elspeth Huxley...
I read this book after watching the television series. It was a better story (as always!) I loved the characters and the setting.
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Elspeth Huxley was a witty and energetic journalist and author of more than 30 books, including memoirs, biographies, crime stories and novels, many inspired by her childhood in colonial Kenya.
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“this was a moment of magic revealing to us all, for a few moments, a hidden world of grace and wonder beyond the one of which our eyes told us, a world that no words could delineate, as insubstanttial as a cloud, as iridescent as a dragon-fly and as innocent as the heart of a rose.”
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“...that's the way to tell a true story from a made-up one. A made-up story always has a neat and tidy end. But true stories don't end, at least until their heroes and heroines die, and not then really because the things they did and didn't do, sometimes live on.”
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