I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I felt I was in Africa, the heat, the bush and the fear that Rachel felt. Well written, the history very interesting and the characters most plausible. I have read the book in 2 days, so this shows how I could not put it down. Recommended wholeheartedly.

Leopard at the Door transported me to Kenya in 1952, as it told the story of Rachel Fullsmith, returning home as an 18 year old, after 6 years of living in England. However, the home Rachel left when her mother died is not the same. Her father's new partner and her son have moved in to her childhood home and the country is in a state of change with gruesome Mau Mau rebellion and the subsequent violent punishment of the British rulers getting closer to home.
This is a well-written book, very descriptive with plenty of history and well developed characters.

I received a copy of this novel via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I knew nothing about the history of Kenya before reading this book. I found it informative with a good realistic storyline underlining the whole book. Descriptive, sometimes horrific, but with a satisfying ending. The relationship between the Europeans and Africans, as well as that between Africans and Mau Mau is explored. Not pretty, would i recommend it? Yes i would.

My review as posted on Goodreads:

Right from the first few pages I know this is a good book. The descriptions of Rachel arriving in the port of Mombasa and her journey through Kenya to her remote rural homeland are so real that I feel that I can see the colours, hear the sounds and smell the smells.

I love it when a piece of historical fiction has me reaching for the links to the real events. This is certainly true of this book.

The way the story is interwoven with the real events of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya during the 1950s is superb.

The characterisation of the white settlers and the Kikuyu community is excellent. I found that the novel flowed beautifully.

In places this is not a book for the faint-hearted, it deals with atrocities committed by both sides. I will not spoil the plot by saying any more.

A modern classic perhaps? I will wait with bated breath, but I know what I think.
This book is high on my list for my favourite book of the year.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Viking for a copy in return for this review.

I really enjoyed this book. I sat glued to it the whole way through. It is a period of history I knew nothing about. Some of the details in the book are horrific. Rachel's story is brilliantly written. There is a lot of what happened told from her point of view. This book is well worth reading and will stay with me for a long time.

My Thoughts

Having spent time living in Africa, I am always on the lookout for any books that capture the real essence of this amazing continent. Jennifer McVeighs first book, ‘The Fever Tree’ was very good, so I was open to trying her new novel. WOW! What an amazing read, she has really lifted the bar on this one. So much happens (and I don’t want to spoil a thing for those of you going to read it) that you will be left speechless. This is a truly riveting read through a complex time in Kenyan history. There will be love and loss, hero’s and villains to capture even the most determined reader.

I was captivated from the moment I opened ‘Leopard at the Door’ with McVeigh’s lyrical prose detailing the harsh yet beautiful reality of this story and landscape. It clearly played out in my mind’s eye. The amount of research undertaken here is truly commendable - 1950s British Mau Mau Rebellion - and McVeigh leaves no stone unturned in her, at times graphic portrayal, of this period in history. In fact, you cannot help but commend her for the enlightening and thought provoking story that I felt was handled in a truly realistic and mature fashion.

‘there are still men who look at the fight against injustice and call it savagery.’

Yes, the book includes violence but you cannot sugarcoat what went on here - it was indeed horrific and a truly ugly period in British Africa. But it was real and seen through the eyes of a vast array of characters and sides that leave the reader seriously contemplating many of the actions undertaken. Isn’t that what good historical fiction is all about? Complex characterisation that truly capture and reflect both time and place - some you will love and some you will hate. So in many ways, it is not an easy read, but expertly handled to give the reader a realistic snapshot of what it might have been like for those who witnessed so much.

‘I have been hoping all this time that the farm would be the same, but no gentle fairy has built a forest of thorns around my home; or made sure that those I love would be waiting for me, unchanged, just as they were when I left them. I have come home to find the farm ransacked by a future I don’t yet understand.’

Seen through the eyes of Rachel, she discovers that nothing is ever simple, whether it be politics of a country seeking to free itself from colonial shackles, to confronting a home that will never return to the days of her childhood. It’s a tense situation for her, from dealing with her father and his new lover, to Kikuyu friends of times past and present - she will be tested and her loyalties called into question. I think McVeigh did a fabulous job at presenting both sides of this conflict, especially the stereotypical ‘evil’ stepmother. She was the necessary epitome of all the ‘old rule’ stood for and believed. She was truly horrible but there for a purpose.

‘the things which were so important to me as a child, the memories which are seared into my mind, out of which I am assembled, might be meaningless to him. The platform on which my childhood was built has dissolved over time.’

‘Leopard at the Door’ is an extraordinary read for history buffs and I highly recommend this absorbing tale. It will shed light on a dark time and shock you. But for those in any way familiar with this continent, you will understand and appreciate a truthful and realistic portrayal during a momentous time in Kenyan history.

‘I have forgotten this other side of Kenya: a raw physicality that has no shame in the inevitability of pain.’

A very interesting book. Shocking in so many ways about what goes on!

A well written book about troubled times in Africa. Unfortunately I found it too disturbing to finish.

I was looking forward to reading this book and I wasn't disappointed. The author Jennifer McVeigh transports us back to Kenya. Her vivid description of life there in the 1950's made me feel as if I was there, experiencing the beautiful but harsh environment and worrying about the political unrest. Rachel is returning to the country she loves after six years away at boarding school. But her family circumstances have drastically changed and she is made to feel like an outsider in her childhood home. As she struggles to come to terms with past memories whilst finding her place in the world, her empathy with the indigenous people and their fight for independence causes a rift in the family which sets her apart from most of their friends, leading to dramatic developments. It was hard to put this book down and I will definitely be looking for others from this author.

I was really looking forward to reading this book as enjoyed The Fever Tree. Again this is set in Africa, with a heroin coming there for the first time. I really admire the descriptive writing, it adds to the enjoyment of the novel. Her characterisation brings the characters to life, makes the reader invest in their stories. This is a wonderful, and stunning novel, both in the setting and plot.

As a boy living in Africa the rumours of the Mau Mau atrocities lived long after the uprising was quelled. Reading Leopard At The Door put
the other perspective more than five decades later. Mentally, from the first chapter I was back in the bush keeping a watchful eye open for
puff adders such was the power of Jennifer McVeigh’s articulation. To say I was enthralled would be an understatement. The story was imaginative and well researched. Rachel’s father was typical of many. Pioneers in their own way and many had very good relations with the
indigenous peoples but there were those who wanted to laud it over them. The latter ultimately ruining what could have been a
symbiotic relationship. I loved the way in which she describes the everyday lives of Europeans back home being kept from the servants,
promulgating the myth of a white gentry race. Steven Lockhart seemed so familiar to me. How many of his sadistic type have I met in Africa,
too many! Finally the helpless situation of Rachel held against her will in Mathari, enduring ECT. After all she had been through that fate awaited her. I have a feeling there is enough meat left in the novel for a second book. One where Rachel returns once again to Kenya, taking her son, in search of his father. Hopefully Rachel can reconcile herself with her father too.

This book has been difficult to put down over the past few days. I was absorbed into both the Kenyan landscape which was so eloquently described, and the lives of the characters as things became ever more desperate in 1952. Poor Rachel, thank goodness it all ended better for her and the decidedly sadistic district officer got his comeuppance. Highly recommended.

A lovely, well written and interesting book. I loved it.

Really interesting book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I have to say this was a great book. It was a beautifully written novel which describes kenyas landscape and wildlife, it was well thought out it has a historical feel to it. Great story the characters quite hard to like. There was quite a bit of animal cruelty which I'm not a fan of, but that's obviously their way of living. I felt like the ending was rushed not thought out enough. Either way it's still a good read. Thank you netgalley

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, on so many levels. Well written characters, with a storyline encompassing history, geography, politics. Having been to Kenya, and undertaken a small safari, the descriptions in the book took me back there again, painting a landscape so vibrant, but ever changing.

Having spent six years at school in England, Rachel Fullsmith is returning to her childhood home in Kenya with the hope of recapturing what was lost the day her mother died. Unfortunately she’s going back to a home that has changed, personally and politically, which has put her childhood memories out of reach. It is 1952, the Mau Mau uprising has begun, and Rachel’s widowed father has surrounded himself by the worst kind of colonialists. What could possibly go wrong?

When starting a book with a white European heroine set in one of the British Empire’s colonies there is a fear that it shall either be colonial apologist, or that the heroine will be starkly modern seemingly dumped back in time, carrying with her a heavy dose of ‘white saviour guilt’. Leopard At The Door pleasantly does neither of these. Rachel is very much a woman of the period; specifically a woman born in two worlds – cut off from the entitlement of Empire, but still apart from the locals – and her journey in this book reflects that. She comes across as genuinely sincere as the political issues of Kenyan independence become greater in the second half of the book, and does so without sounding patronising or condescending. In fact the political context is dealt throughout the book (apart from a few unsavoury characters) with great sensitivity and is completely aware of the faults on both sides. Rather resulting in a quote that will stay with, ‘authority is not a substitute for truth’.

Incredibly accessible and easy to read, the story is written from a first person perspective and blessedly does not fall in to the trap of being a tedious list of “I went here, I did that”. However, as a result there are some characters you will really dislike. No, really. That is a new experience this book has given me, actively wishing a character to be torn apart by Mau Mau, or the titular Leopard. It also keeps some characters guarded as we are unable to slip in to their thoughts as might be done in a typical third person narrative. Yet, this only made me more curious, push me to read on, and it was gratifying to discover the characters alongside Rachel rather than have foreknowledge. Even if there are a few obvious, sign-posted, metaphors and insinuations along the way.

If you are a fan of writers such as Dinah Jefferies I think you will heartily enjoy this. I blitzed through it in a few days, it was that easy to read, minutes slipping by without notice as reading just ‘a few pages’ turned in to ‘a few chapters’.

Word of warning: There are some scenes depicting violence towards animals and slightly gory descriptions of dead animals. There is also reference to sexual violence. Racial language of the period to be expected and racial violence from one character… you’ll know which one.
Housekeeping: I won a copy from Goodreads in exchange for a review, I was also sent a copy via NetGalley. The copy I received was an Advanced Reads Copy, content in the final version may vary.

Jennifer Mc Veigh’s novel „Leopard by the door" is set in Kenya in the 1950ties, the time of the bloody Mau Mau rebellion. The book draws on facts of the Mau Mau uprisings which the author adds in an informative afterword. This is a really good holiday read for those looking for an East Africa story line, its comes laced with betrayal, an inter- racial love story and historical background about the Mau Mau movement which ended British colonial ruler ship leading to the birth of independent Kenia.

Rachel Fullsmith returns to her beloved Kenya and her parents farm Kisima after having been sent to England for schooling, with her grandparents as guardians when her beloved mother dies suddenly. When she finally returns to Kenya, she finds the world has changed even in this remote corner of the world she calls home. Her father has found a new partner, Sara, who has brought a teenage son with her, Harold, a sensitive boy interested in photography and a love for animals. They strike up an immediate comradery. Sara is the exact opposite of her mother and the two women have a strained relationship from the very beginning, Sara has no taste for life in the bush, a place Rachel dreamed about during her emotionally and atmospherically cold years in England. Having grown up among the Kikuyu tribe living on their land, people she calls family, she has little tolerance for the new racist talks and beliefs of her soon to be step mother who seems to have influenced her father and changed his formerly liberal views. Harold and Rachel share a love for Africa, but things start to come to a head when Mau Mau killing sprees move in closer to the neighboring farms. After her return, Rachael fell in love with Michael, her former teacher, a Kikuyu who seems to be linked to Mau Mau and the Labor movements. As colonial Africa is beginning to fall apart, the political developments have dire consequences for Rachel, her family, Harold and the Kikuyu.

MC Veigh writes fluidly and keeps you on edge, particularly towards the end. I really enjoyed the novel but some of the storyline is rather predictable. The cover is simply dreadful in my view, far too schmaltzy and kitschy which belittles McVeigh’s work.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this captivating novel. Set in the 1950s in Kenya, against the backdrop of the rising struggle for independence from the British Empire, the novel centres around a young woman who returns to Kenya to find everything has changed - on both a personal and national level. It is a fascinating period of history, and the novel does not beat around the bush - it portrays the harsh reality of this time in full. The beautiful descriptions of the landscape of Kenya were breath-taking and helped me to feel like I was experiencing the story. The plot is interesting and I found myself drawn in, unable to put it down in order to find out what would happen. I have not been able to stop thinking about it since I finished reading it either! I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Leopard at the Door, Jennifer McVeigh

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction, Historical Fiction

I really really wanted to love this book, I adore books set back in time that involve characters from other countries, other cultures. I like to feel I'm there with them, sharing their experiences and to begin I thought this book would do it. 

Sadly, though it started well I just don't really like any of the characters, and the story is so slow moving it almost comes to a stop. I wasn't expecting breakneck speed, the beauty of books like this for me is in the gentle pace that allows me to see and feel all the day to day minutiae, but even for me this was just too meandering. 
As the story moved on it got more graphic, more murders, abuse, tortures of humans and animals. I just don't want to read that, I know it happens, that its an important part of the story but I don't want the gritty, horrific details. 

Rachel - I felt sorry for her at first, she had an idyllic upbringing til her mum died and she was shipped off to England to grandparents who didn't really want her, even though she was away at boarding school most of the time.
When she returns to Kenya, against her fathers wishes, she finds he's a very different man, and is living with a lady, Sara, who is the antithesis of her beloved mother.
Her father comes over as spineless to me, maybe he's just given up? I don't know but the man we met when Rachel was a child was so different to who he is now.
Then there's Sara, who is very clear - whites and natives do not mix, there is no place for being friendly with them, and any hint of them wanting to better themselves needs stamping down on, hard. She genuinely believes they are an inferior race, and need keeping in their place. 
She clearly thinks Rachel lacks discipline and is not happy at the way she has freedom of the farm, freedom to talk to and help the native people. Gah, that makes me so angry, but there were, and still are, so many like Sara, who believe a white skin makes one superior. I'll stop my rant there ;-)
It does make for an interesting read, I do like characters I can dislike but once more the story was just so slow moving. Sara would complain to Rachel's father, he in turn would gently suggest Rachel modify her behaviour, then Sara wouldn't feel he'd done enough, would get impatient with him, and would take steps to get what she wanted to happen. Complaining all the time if you want something done, do it yourself. 

I didn't like the ending, felt very hurried and ambiguous and that's not how I like books to finish. Between that, the characters I didn't really feel for, the slow pace and the graphic cruelty I just couldn't get to like this story.  
I can see others loved it though so you choose, you may have a stronger stomach and more patience when reading than me...It is very beautifully written, and there were scenic parts I loved, but overall it was one I was glad to put behind me. 
 
Stars: Three, a wondefully descriptive novel in parts, but the story and the cruelty in it just weren't for me. 
 
ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers