Alexandra Fuller’s vibrant account of her childhood growing up in the former Rhodesia and later Malawi is testimony to the harsh reality of growing up amid the chaos of the violent road to African Independence. The chaos of war and independence forms the backdrop to Fuller’s mainly hilarious, often angry and occasionally tragic family life. So it is that driving through mined roads with the constant threat of hijacking, it is the backseat discussion as to who has passed wind which Fuller vividly recounts.

Affectionately known to her family as Bobo, Fuller has a strong relationship with her father and as a tomboy growing up in rural Africa, life in the bush was full of delights such as bush camps, riding, hunting, but also danger and near death from water-born diseases. When Fuller’s father is called away to fight the black guerilla movement, her mother is left with domestic chaos compounded by political turmoil.

Although set in Rhodesia during some of its most politically turbulent years, her account is apolitical, providing neither an apologist nor investigative view of the independence struggle. Instead, by presenting things through the simplicity of a child’s eyes, she unwittingly presents the reader with an astonishingly frank and fascinating insight into a sociopolitical battle being waged around her, of which she was often uncomprehending or unaware.

Yet through the eyes of a young girl growing up in an extraordinary family, the six year-old Fuller captures the great beauty of this continent and delivers an unnervingly direct and heartfelt testimony to the most extraordinary political and domestic circumstances.

This is an intimate portrayal of how their bond with Africa simultaneously tore apart and united a family.