The Ghosts of Happy Valley: Searching for the Lost World of Africa's Infamous Aristocrats Paperback – July 1, 2014

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.

I bought this book because of my ongoing fascination with Kenya in general and 'Happy Valley' in particular. My interest in the subject had been initially aroused by my reading of the real-life mystery-thriller "White Mischief," in which the story of the murder of Lord Erroll is set out in such a way that the characters, places, and events involved were stamped on my memory for good. Naturally, then, a book entitled "The Ghosts of Happy Valley" was guaranteed to get my attention. I must admit that I was at first mildly disappointed with the book. It is not as exciting as "White Mischief," and Juliet Barnes, although a competent writer, is no Elspeth Huxley (whose "The Flame Trees of Thika" and its sequels I recommend to anyone interested in Kenya, or even just in good writing). But, as I continued to read "Ghosts," my initial misgivings were gradually replaced by a growing appreciation of what the author was attempting to do in this book. In summary, Ms. Barnes weaves three elements--the past, the present, and an ecological hope for the future--to create a Kenyan narrative that, while not as thrilling as that in "White Mischief," does succeed in breathing life into her material and thereby holds her reader's interest as she tells her tale. To give a thumbnail account of "Ghosts": The story largely dwells on the author's search, ably seconded by her guide and ecological mentor Solomon, for (to quote her subtitle) "the Lost World of Africa's Infamous Aristocrats." In this search, she is generally successful, although what she finds is very different from the world of Happy Valley so seductively described in "White Mischief." In a word, this world has changed from white to black, and from decadent affluence to dignified poverty. The author and her guide travel the mean roads of contemporary Kenya and find the rundown remains of once stately dwellings--some still inhabited by people who, at best, might have been house servants in the old days, and some reduced to a few stones or wooden posts in a tangle of undergrowth. There is something of the Ozymandias theme here and more than a little of the "remember man that thou art dust" motif too. But the effect of the narrative is more positive than depressing, mostly due to the author's determination to find what she is looking for and, especially, on account of Solomon's eternal optimism in the face of every obstacle (not to speak of his heroic defense of the natural environment centered on his attempts to save the colobus monkey from extinction at the hands of uncaring humans). Taken together, the parts of "The Ghosts of Happy Valley" add up to a greater whole, which makes this book both a good read and a fine addition to the legend of Happy Valley.