Green City in the Sun

"From page one, I knew I was in the company of an accomplished storyteller. Barbara Wood has written an enthralling saga, packed with memorable characters and rich detail. Treat yourself and read it."

—John Jakes,
New York Times
bestselling author

"Barbara Wood brings the beauty of the African landscape I know and love stunningly alive."

—Barbara Taylor Bradford

"Superb storytelling ... the language sings as the reader is given an education ... a page turner."

—San Francisco Chronicle

"Barbara Wood is an entertainer."

—
The Washington Post Book World

"Tremendous ... a reader-pleaser in every way ... The people, places, and times that she evokes so movingly, so vividly, will haunt me long after I've put the book aside ... Such a moving ending—and exactly right."

—Phyllis Whitney

"An irresistible setting, glorious in the 'crisp and buoyant' luminosity of its air, the vulnerable beauty of its terrain, and the ironies and agonies of its clashing cultures."

—
Chicago Tribune

"Barbara Wood is a master storyteller. She never fails to leave the reader enthralled."

—Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, author of
A Woman of Independent Means

Other Books By

BARBARA WOOD

Virgins of Paradise

The Dreaming

Green City in the Sun

Soul Flame

Vital Signs

Domina

The Watch Gods

Childsong

Night Trains

Yesterday's Child

Curse This House

Hounds and Jackals

The Divining

Books By

KATHRYN HARVEY

Butterfly

Stars

Private Entrance

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Green City in the Sun

     Copyright © 2012 Barbara Wood. All rights reserved.
This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Green City in the Sun
is a work of historical fiction. Although some events and people in this book are based on historical fact, others are the products of the author's imagination.

Cover design by Gina Binkley
Interior design by Mike Penticost

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wood, Barbara, 1947-
Green city in the sun / Barbara Wood.
p.cm.
ISBN 978-1-59652-871-0
1. British--Kenya--Fiction. 2. Kenya--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3573.O5877G74 2012
813'.54--dc23

2012006383

Printed in the United States of America
12 13 14 15 16 17 18—0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to my husband,
George, with love.

I would like to thank the following Kenya people for their kind assistance:

In Nairobi:

     Professor Godfrey Muriuki and his wife, Margaret, with the University of Nairobi; Philip and Ida Karanja; Rasheeda Litt of University Safari Tours; Allen and Gachiku Gicheru; Dr. Igo Mann and his charming wife, Erica; John Moller, who explained about hunting; Valerie and Heming Gullberg, coffee growers; and the staff of the Kenya National Archives, for smoothing the way.

In Nyeri:

     Satvinder and Jaswaran Sehmi, who became our good friends; Mr. Che Che, manager of the Outspan Hotel; Irene Mugambi, for sharing her invaluable insight into Kenya women.

In Hanyuki:

Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson; Mr. Edmond Honarau, general manager of the Mount Kenya Safari Club, for making our stay there so pleasant; Jane Tatham Warter and her friend mrs. Elizabeth Ravenhill; and P. A. G. ("Sandy") Field, for a delightful afternoon of talk.

     Thanks also to Terence and Nicole Gavaghan, for an invaluable introduction; Tim and Rainie Samuels; Marvin and Sjanie Holm, who gave us that first, critical introduction; and, finally Bob and Sue Morgan od Survival Ministries, for taking us to their Kenya friends, and for coming to our aid in a dire moment.

     And to Abdul Selim, surely the most patient and cheerful driver in all of East Africa, a special
asante sana
,

A NOTE ON FOREIGN WORDS AND
SPELLINGS

All kikuyu and Swahili words and names are pronounced as written. The name of the African family Mathenge is pronounced
Ma-THEN-gay.

Kenya was, until 1963, pronounced Kee-ya. After independence the
e
was shortened and the pronounciation became officially Ken-ya, as in
"pen-ya"

Kenya came into existence by accident.

     In 1984 the British were anxious to get to Uganda, a strategic military point at the headwaters of the Nile in the heart of Africa, so they built a railway from the east coast of Africa inland six hundred miles to Lake Victoria, the gateway to Uganda. As it happened, that train crossed a stretch of land inhabited by wild game and warring tribes, a land that appealed only to intrepid explorers and missionaries. When, after it completion, the Uganda Railway proved to be a financial drain and a white elephant, the British government sought a way to make the railway pay for itself. The answer, it was soon seen, lay in encouraging settlement along the line.

     The first to be offered this "vacant" territory were the Zionist Jews, who were at the time searching for a permanent homeland. But the Jews declined, wanting to go to Palestine. So a campaign was launched to lure immigrants from all over the British Empire. Treaties were drawn up with the local tribes, which had little concept of treaties and were somewhat preplexed by what the white man was doing here; then the government offered
cheaply, huge tracts of "unused" wilderness to anyone who would come and settle and develop it. The central highlands of this country, being at a high eleveation, were cool and fertile and lush; many Britons from England, Australia, and New Zealand, looking for a new home, a place to make a fresh start and build a new life, were attracted.

     Although the Colonial Office staunchly maintained the area was just a protectorate and would one day be returned to its black inhabitants when they had been taught how to run it. In 1905, when two thousand whites were outnumbered by four million Africans, the British commissioner for the East Africa Protectorate declared that the protectorate was a "White Man's country."