Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood

Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood

by RobynScott (Author)

Synopsis

When Robyn Scott was seven her parents left the tranquil hills of New Zealand, taking their three small children to live in the wild Botswana bush, where they grew up collecting snakes, canoeing with crocodiles and breaking in horses in the veld. Returning to the country where Robyn's eccentric grandfather had served as a pilot to Seretse Khama, Botswana's first, beloved president, her parents continued in his pioneering and unconventional footsteps. This is the extraordinary story of the family's fifteen years in Botswana, during which Robyn's mother single-handedly homeschooled the three children, and her father ran a flying doctor practice, attempting, with often unexpected results, to adapt his experience to the unique demands of a rural practice and the growing problem of Aids. A delightful account of an education where dissecting a snake is the closest Robyn and her brother and sister come to a biology lesson, and children from the cattle posts are their only classmates, Twenty Chickens for a Saddle is also a unique insight into modern Botswana. Set against the backdrop of one of Africa's rare democratic success stories battling with one of the continent's worst Aids crises, this book remains an uplifting, engaging and deeply affectionate portrayal of an extraordinary place and family.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 464
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 27 Mar 2008

ISBN 10: 074759600X
ISBN 13: 9780747596004
Book Overview: A classic childhood memoir for fans of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, Peter Godwin's Mukiwa, Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart and Alexandra Fuller's Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight Rights have been sold in US, Canada and Holland

Media Reviews
'Both a wonderful memoir of an exotic childhood and a striking portrait of one of the world's most beguiling countries. A gem of a book.' Alexander McCall Smith 'Elegant, evocative, poignant beautifully written.' Michela Wrong Robyn Scott writes vividly about her extraordinary childhood I felt almost as if I'd shared her adventures - and wished I had. A book for everyone who loves Africa' Samantha Weinberg
Author Bio
Robyn Scott was born in 1981. She began her formal education at fifteen when she went to school in Zimbabwe, before moving to Auckland for her undergraduate degree. In 2004 she was awarded a scholarship to Cambridge University, from where she graduated with distinction. In 2005, she spent three months at the Financial Times, writing leader articles. Following this she divided her time between helping her father write a book on nutritional medicine and consulting for the pharmaceutical industry and a political risk advisory group specialising in Africa. In her spare time, she is establishing an Aids orphan charity with her mother. She lives in London