About this Book

The book opens with a young man applying for and obtaining a post in the Colonial Civil Service in Nyasaland (now called Malawi) a few years after the end of the Second World War. The long and memorable journey from Britain by boat, train and truck was shared by three other recruits destined for employment in Zomba, Nyasaland. Before he left Britain, the main character in the book, Sinclair Brown, had some doubts about the value of colonialism. These doubts increased as he worked, played and loved through the ten years leading up to Independence. The story is focused on the British Overseas Civil Servants who made up 99% of the white population of Zomba . It is about relationships, the work arena and social events that are woven into the relentlessly growing and threatening political power of President Banda. It is a light, easy-to-read book but it has been written as a public acknowledgement and perhaps memorial to the magnificent British Civil Servants who carried the Union Jack into the heat and dust of Africa. Was it all worth it? Maybe yes, maybe no, but the dedication and belief of those valiant men and women must never be under-estimated or forgotten.