Roses Under the Miombo Trees

Amanda Parkyn's memoir focusses on her life in 1960s Southern and Northern Rhodesia. Based on the letters she wrote to her parents back in England, Roses Under the Miombo Trees covers significant events in Rhodesia's history as uniquely witnessed through the eyes of a young naïve housewife Amanda Parkyn, a young English bride, finds herself in 1960s colonial Africa. Life as wife of a sales representative means frequent change, as he is posted to progressively smaller communities, first in Southern Rhodesia pre-Ian Smith, then north to the tip of Lake Tanganyika, in a Northern Rhodesia about to be granted its independence. She writes home regularly as she learns to keep house, to become madam to a succession of servants, as she eagerly seeks to fit into a white society very different from that of her upbringing. Starting a family brings new challenges as she must learn to make do in ingenious ways to stretch their tiny budget. Back in England her mother sends frequent...