Looking for Evelyn

by Maggie Ritchie

Shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 2018 Chrissie Docherty returns to the southern Africa of her childhood and tracks down Evelyn Fielding, the woman at the centre of an explosive scandal involving a traditional colonial officer and a gifted black African artist. Together, the two women uncover the secrets that shattered a remote expatriate outpost in the Zambian bush in the 1970s. Switching deftly between today and the recent past, and set against a background of tense post-colonial race relations, political turmoil and witchcraft, 'Looking for Evelyn powerfully evokes the very special colours, sounds and smells of Africa.

288 pages, Paperback

Published June 22, 2017

About the author

I was born in India and grew up in Zambia, Spain and Venezuela before settling in Scotland, where I live with my husband and our son.

After graduating from Edinburgh University with a degree in English, I became a journalist working for a range of national newspapers. I’ve been freelance for the last 15 years writing features for the Scottish and national press.

I graduated with distinction from the University of Glasgow’s MLitt in Creative Writing, where I was awarded the Curtis Brown Prize in 2012, and was runner up for the Sceptre Prize. My debut novel, Paris Kiss, was longlisted in the Mslexia First Novel Competition in 2014.

My short stories have been published in magazines and in New Writing Scotland, and I’m now working on my second novel, which is set in Africa.

Reviews

[Colette Coen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real rip-roaring read from one of my fellow G2 writers. Maggie imbues the whole novel with the sight, sounds and smells of her childhood home in Zambia, while weaving a tale of ex-pat neighbours at a time of huge political and cultural change.
While I had read and given feedback on parts of the novel while Maggie was writing it, I was really intrigued to get to the end and find the full story.