Michele asked Tim Butcher:

I am currently reading Blood River and loving it. Your writing is superb. I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but I had just finished a book about Zimbabwe and was left wanting more. I knew something about this from Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. I have also read Alexandra Fuller's memoirs. I am fascinated by Africa and its history. Can you recommend other memoirs about Africa? s

Tim Butcher Michele – thank you for your approach. I am delighted you are enjoying Blood River. The field is wide for African memoir. Some of my favourites include Cutting for Stone (Ethiopia) by Abraham Verghese which, a bit like the eternally fabulous Poisonwood Bible is a biographically-rooted work of fiction: The Dust Diaries by Owen Sheers (Zimbabwe) and The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper (Liberia). At risk of appearing tacky, might I mention another of my books, Chasing the Devil, which again weaves travel with history, this time through Sierra Leone and Liberia. Happy Reading, TimB

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