The Ghosts of Happy Valley: Searching for the Lost World of Africa's Infamous Aristocrats

This is a book that covers a lot of territory, both literal and figurative. In its barest sense, it portrays the crumbling of a way of life in the Kenyan highlands. Where once ennobled and sometimes raffish colonials built manorial estates on alienated land, now some of those estate houses lie barren with only the upland winds or occasional interlopers to stir the spirits within. Or they’re occupied –or re-occupied depending on your view, by an expanding hardscrabble multitude, whose time, post-independence had come.In a way the book combines social history with a changing archaeological record with content that may be even more appreciated in years to come. When I read of of Slains, Clouds, Kipipiri House and the others I was reminded of those ruined late-Roman villas in Britain, whose owners needed a compliant labor force to thrive and, along with spending by the Roman state, generate their lavish, possibly louche, lifestyles, as recorded for posterity in elaborate floor mosaics. But we know nothing of who these people were, who succeeded them and how it all ended, as indeed it did in short order. The Roman state, facing troubles at the center, could no longer underwrite the politics, lifestyle and security of distant elites on the periphery. When most, if not all, of the Romans left the island, the villas were taken over by local Britons who had always lived there. For a time, they occupied these villas until history –its economics and politics – moved on. Historians of the time did record some of what happened but mostly couched it in end-of-the-world dramatics with less attention to detail at the personal level.In the Ghosts of Happy Valley, we have a fleshed-out template for similar elite-centered historical and societal processes, albeit at a distance of almost 1600 years. That for me is the key value of this book. The author provides background as to houses, owners and their foibles, economic pressures and transitional politics. She writes elegantly and from an insider point of view, having been born in Kenya.The Errol murder mystery, which forms part of the structure is covered elsewhere in print and film, so I found that slightly less interesting than the parts about the homes, current and past occupants, and the conservation efforts that, from what I’ve read, are ongoing. The author’s interaction and work with Solomon Gitau, was intriguing and while one can only wished him the best in his preservation efforts, the task faces huge odds.I found the small vignettes to be fascinating: like those Lyduska Piotto, Mary Miller, Anne Spoerry (whose past turns out to be very dark), and the lives of the current occupants and owners of parts of the former estates. Ms Barnes speaks with former Mau Mau and mentions snippets of her own life and family as well. The author, who is clear about her point of view on several subject, laments some of the changes. And while one may argue that in the fullness of time what has happened is a common transition that will take decades to run its course, she is observant about the astounding corruption and unfair practices that make both preservation efforts harder and economic gains from the often poorly-used lands of former estates that much harder.It wasn’t a problem for me, but due to the large number of people described within, the author might have benefited from including a dramatis personae to aid the average reader unfamiliar with Kenya in general, Happy Valley in particular. For that, I debated whether to give the book four stars or five, but came down in favor of five because of how the content resonated with me. In 1977, I camped at the farmhouse of Mrs Kenealy, an elderly Kenyan settler, at Naro Moru. A year later, she lost the land and house has fallen down since, someone wrote me recently.A final note here: It was a lifetime ago but I met Juliet Barnes, the author in 1983 when she was travelling from Scotland back to Kenya with two college friends. She helped several of us get better accommodations on the dilapidated, slow-moving, barge-ferry that then ran along the Nile from Kosti to Juba in southern Sudan. That, plus an interest in Africa, in history and in its transitions led me to purchase this book and I was not disappointed.

This is a general update to the remaining loose ends of the happy Valley Saga and a look back to the colonial era in the wider area. If you enjoyed “White Mischief” and all the other books on the subject, you will find this is a pleasant new addition to the genre.It is of course, a well-trod path. Juliet Barnes goes back to the area to explore the buildings, the people and the vanishing stories of the area. She brings us fully up to date in a way that focuses more on the present, and what has happened since. She relates new anecdotes, old memories and first-hand accounts of survivors from that era. She rediscovers and stays in the now dilapidated old houses, she digs up old photos and makes new correspondences. What is enjoyable is how she pieces together old memories, anecdotes, accounts of living descendants – detective-like- to bring the people of the past back to life. Anyone who has explored their family history can relate to this kind of process.Structurally, the book doesn’t really work however. There is no unifying focus, it is pieced together of disparate elements. Its selling point is Happy Valley, but the new insights are relatively few, and she spends much time diverging far into the lives and experiences of other random unrelated settlers who had little or nothing to do with Happy Valley. She follows the thread of her companion Solomon, a local conservationist, and his life story. She surveys the Kenya of today, passively noticing its corruption and environmental degradation, without any comment. Sadly, on the other hand, she seems very anti-Christian. She peeks at the edges of spiritism and the occult, the witchcraft that is widespread in Africa. She criticizes Juanita Carberry's "child of Happy Valley" memoir as uninteresting and the author as an attention-seeker, yet that was a book I enjoyed and actually found a bit more engaging than this one.It's not bad however. Ultimately it's a sort of rambling meditation on time, nostalgia, change, and the emptiness of it all.

good read

Interesting Book

An amazing insight into the lives of Happy Valley residents.

So glad I bought this delightful book. Juliet brings to life the modern rural Kenya, as she tracks down the old houses of the Happy Valley settlers. The anecdotes of the veteran Mau Mau terrorists and the present day residents of the houses give the African viewpoint on White settlers. You sympathize with Solomon trying desperately to save the Colobus monkey and indigenous trees whilst being thwarted by bigwig money interests.Juliet's description of the almost impossible rutted roads and quagmires, after the rains transported me back to my childhood in Kenya.A well written book that brings to life modern Kenya and the plight of the rural African living in poverty, fifty years post independence. One wonders what happened to all the billions of Aid money given to Kenya?? It certainly didn't benefit the rural African.If you are looking for a saucy read about the Happy Valley sex exploits then this book isn't for you. If you want a snapshot of Kenya fifty years post independence with an update on the settlers farms carved up as land settlement plots, then this book is a must read.

Juliet Barnes set herself a very difficult task in trying to rewrite a story which has been told numerous times in the last 30 years. She has used an examination of the remains, in many cases the ruins, of the houses occupied by the decadent Happy Valley set as the basis of this new slant. Frankly it doesn't work! Even if you know Africa, and I have lived and worked in many parts of the continent over the last 40 years, the story gets rapidly tedious and her "side kick" Solomon, a Kenyan who has an obsession with colobus monkeys, just adds to the tedium. However, I am a persistent individual and I pursued the book to the finish. Only in one of the chapters near the end of the book does the story get interesting where state involvement in the murder of Lord Errol raises its head. The majority of the book deals with the modern Kenya,its people, the way it is governed and the day to day life for poor people. It is a very unflattering account but one which I know to be true.The happy Valley set were a totally useless group of people, a total waste of space and really don't warrant the effort which Juliet Barnes expended on their story. A few years ago I wandered around Karen Blixen's house in Nairobi and only felt a sickening weight in the pit of the stomach - what a poor advertisement these people were for the Empire. However, I have to admit a compelling fascination for Alice de Janze but I suppose that is down to my maleness!If you have a deep interest in this episode of death and debauchery in Kenya then give it a go - but you may, like me, struggle through most of it.

I have gone through two thirds of the book and must admit it is not an easy read. Names, events, houses are muddled up and do not appear in any sequence or order. And once when she does find an old old house of which she had been waiting desperately to see, the description is disappointingly covered in a short paragraph - a prime example being Kipipiri House for which she had to work hard to get access to but it all ended up as being a non-event. There are a few pages of photographs including some taken as recent as 2011 but the quality is so poor that they look like watermarks. I must admit the book is more about Solomon, her safari guide, than the actual characters that is trying to portray. Even the conversations with the elderly Kikuyu employees of the former land owners is no more than what they said without a deeper followup of facts gained.I will admit the author still has lots of friends connected with the colourful lot of the Happy Valley of the past but sadly all their inputs have not been transformed into enjoyable reading.