Leopard at the Door

Set in the 1950s, this historical novel details the homecoming of Rachel Fullsmith to her father's farm in Kenya. McVeigh (The Fever Tree) uses Rachel's story to examine the cultural and political changes wrought by the waning of the British Empire and the impending Mau Mau rebellion. This is much more than an "issues" novel, however. It is a coming-of-age tale of a young woman who is trying to find her place in the world. Rachel was 12 when her mother died and her father sent her to an English boarding school; she is now 18 and shocked to find how dramatically things have changed in the years she has been away. Her father is living with a woman whose racist views are at odds with the values Rachel's mother taught her, and the household no longer feels like home. Will the secrets Rachel carries—one rooted in the past, the other in her growing relationship with her former tutor—help her come to terms with the changes in her family and in her country? British actress Katherine McEwan provides a rich narration that fully renders both the individual characters and the descriptions of life in mid-20th century Kenya.