LEOPARD AT THE DOOR

Listeners who love Alexandra Fuller’s memoirs will appreciate this story of a changing Kenya. Katharine McEwan's narration, sprinkled with Swahili phrases, vividly details the various voices of two cultures. She tells Rachel’s story, starting with her return as a young woman after six years in England. McEwan juxtaposes Rachel’s childhood memories with the current turmoil. Her tone softens with wistful remembering, intermingled with the increasing intensity of racial unease that mushrooms into the bloody 1950s Mau Mau Rebellion against the British. Torn between two worlds, Rachel is forced to face ugly realities: brutal violence, broken taboos, and gender power struggles. McEwan draws listeners into these chilling dramas, and as she urgently tells it, nothing remains the same for Rachel or for the nation of Kenya. R.T. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: JANUARY 2017]