AFRICAN WAYS by Valerie Poore

5 GOLD STARS

Non Fiction, memoir, South Africa


On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

... I almost turned to the front and started reading it all over again once I'd finished it!

About Val Poore's three years of living on a remote moutain in Natal in the early 1980s, this book made me laugh out loud several times (the tennis club!) and provoked tears nearer the end. I've said in reviews of Ms Poore's books about her life on the waterways that she can make buying a bit of bathroom equipment interesting; here, she writes a brief chapter about the lighting of oil lamps and and it was so touching it made my eyes water.

The message this book gave to me is that, cliche though it is, it is the simple things in life that make you happy, the people and relationships that matter, and that sometimes by trying to make an almost perfect life even better you can actually spoil what you have (been there, done that). It's obvious to me that this was one of the most treasured periods of the author's life (if not THE most), and the emotion and love that pours into the book made me nostalgic for a place and time I've never experienced, too.

Included are fascinating insights into an unknown world ~ the ever present danger of 'veld' fires and how to cope with them, a world without electricity, a relaxed and self-sufficient way of life, weather casting via a mountain, a mixture of cultures and races so natural that it didn't need any self-consciously PC multi-cultural initiatives. Loved it - now I just want to see all the pictures, particularly of the little guide at Port St John called Sobriety!

Provided later by the author

If you have any interest at all in travel, Africa or a more simple way of life, please read this - worth every penny!


WATERY WAYS by Val Poore reviewed HERE

HARBOUR WAYS by Val Poore reviewed HERE