Karen Blixen’s account of her life in Africa, at the farm at the foot of the Ngong hills, is a privilege to read. It is a testament of a place and age that is perhaps now lost forever, for better or worse. It is as much about the forces of nature as about the landscape of the human heart. About how nature, animals and people intertwine and give rise to a whole that is infinitely more complex and beautiful than any of its individual elements.
It is fun in parts, heartrendingly tragic in others, but always bewildering and bewitching. As the tale moves through time, the transformation in the author’s being, the effect that Africa and her people have on her takes shape gently but surely.
Her sensitivity and openness to experience, change and learning new “truths” allows the reader to join her – even a century later – on this wondrous journey through the charm of this magical, almost mythical land and its inhabitants.