Overview

The Duckworth Discoverers Series aims to republish classic texts in their original form which are of interest today, tracing the adventures of bygone travel writers. An observant personal account of colonial life in South-Africa, (then) Rhodesia and Kenya in 1928. Like many of his contemporaries Sir Arthur Conan Doyle travelled extensively. This eloquent travelogue recreates in amusing detail the difficulties ordinary tourists encountered while travelling abroad, while at the same time giving a lucid picture of colonial life at the early part of the twentieth century.

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9780715630846

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Sherlock Holmes probably ranks as the most widely known fictional character of all time. His creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was born in 1859 in Edinburgh where he graduated in medicine before publishing his first novel, A Study in Scarlet, six years later at the age of 28. Conan Doyle went on to enjoy a successful career as a writer, penning more Holmes stories, a history of World War I, and then a number of books on spiritualism, which occupied much of his time in his later years. He travelled extensively, and Our African Winter, first published in 1929, is his account of his travels through the continent in the 1920s to deliver lectures on spiritualism. Details of excursions and encounters on an itinerary encompassing South Africa, Rhodesia and Kenya are recounted in this travelogue, which Conan Doyle further uses to express his political opinions, particularly on racial tensions in South Africa and the emerging presence of Mahatma Gandhi. Anecdotes of a 'psychic' nature are sprinkled throughout the book, and the appendix quotes the conversation the author had with Sir Cecil Rhodes (d. 1902) whilst sitting alongside his grave. The authority with which Conan Doyle relates such events endows them with a sense of convincing reality. Readers interested in spiritual and African matters will undoubtedly enjoy this book, and it has additional value as a historical document recording an age when Britain was the dominant world power. (Kirkus UK)

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) is world famous for the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, all of which are still in print today.

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