Lovely Little Book

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson

I just read – and loved – this little book! It’s funny, because the ARC (advanced reading copy) that I picked up at the BEA didn’t have the title on the cover, just the pictures of birds, so it was not until I opened it that I saw that it was a novel.

It is a small book – just 200 pages, compared to some of the large books I have read lately and reviewed for you. But it has everything one might want in a novel, and more.

The story is set in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, and revolves around the quiet and unassuming widower Mr. Malik. He is a brown man, not black or white. That is explained to mean he is of Indian descent, his forebears being among the Indian laborers the British “imported” to build the railway.

The object of his unspoken affection is Rose Mbikwa, a white woman, raised in Scotland who came to Kenya as a young woman, fell in love both with Kenya, and with the handsome and charismatic black man Mr. Mbikwa. He, sadly, was outspoken in his political beliefs, so was jailed, persecuted, and eventually killed. Rather than return to the land of her birth, she resolved to stay, and to help Kenyan tourism. That, she thought, was something she as a woman, could do to benefit her adopted country without getting involved in the politics that took her husband’s life.

She has been running Tuesday bird walks weekly for many years, and Mr. Malik has been attending them, and in love with her, for three years, since his semi-retirement. His unmarried – this being always mentioned in his thoughts – but intelligent, hardworking and businesslike daughter is running his business.

The story very gently unfolds as a rival from Mr. Malik’s childhood suddenly appears at one of the bird walks, and decides to invite Rose to the one big social event of the year – the Hunt Club Ball. This horrifies poor humble Malik, who has a letter prepared to mail her, and has already sent in for the tickets.

The club where Malik and his friends gather every evening decides to decide who gets to ask Rose by means of a bird counting contest, and this is one of the other delights of the book – you learn the names and descriptions of many, many of the actual birds, and plants that are in Nairobi. And each chapter has a little sketch of a bird at the start, which is just a charming touch.

The book unfolds quite gently, and sweetly. All sorts of trouble ensues, other characters and issues are introduced, but Malik is the gentle and honest heart of the book. The romances are quiet, politics and violence do come into play, but nothing is luridly overplayed, or a shock to the system – it is just, simply, how life is.

I loved this book.

And I love having the Internet available for searches of what some of the plants and birds look like, but that is just me, being curious. It’s so much easier now than when I was a child, and looking things up meant going to the encyclopedia, which may or may not have had a color picture of the item in question.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good story, particularly if you love birds or birdwatching, it’s a little gem of a book, and left me smiling.