Whilst I love this genre of books as a rule I found this one a struggle at times. However, I did enjoy the story for the most part.

A really enjoyable although sometimes brutal look at colonial Africa in the 30s. Exactly how I imagined it to be for expats and locals alike. I would recommend this book.

It's great to be in a position to recommend much more diverse books to our young people at school. Building the senior school library as a place where students actually come and find books that they want to read as opposed to books that teachers think they ought to read is an important responsibility and one we take really seriously.
Books like this are such a positive move as they will appeal to a broader set of readers than we are usually attracting. Dealing with modern issues in a clear and captivating way with a strong narrative voice and characters that the students can relate to is critical as we move forwards. This book is both an intelligent and compelling read that will hold even the most reluctant reader's attention and keep them turning the pages long into the night. It keeps the reader on their toes and ensures that you give it your full attention too. I found myself thinking about its characters and events even when I wasn't reading it and looking forward to snatching kore time with it and I hope that my students feel the same. An accessible, gripping and engrossing read that I can't recommend highly enough. Will absolutely be buying a copy for the library and heartily recommending it to both staff and students.

It is with regret that my reading list went awry and I am a little late to the table giving my review of An Unsuitable Woman. I found the novel evoked for me the experience of living in Africa as a boy. The descriptions brought to mind many things, sights, smells, vast horizons and of course the animals. The story encapsulated, in entertaining detail, a certain period of time where extremes of behaviour seemed almost normal It was as if, removed from the home country, free spirits rose to the heights of Icarus before plunging to back down to earth. Africa has that power over people.
I absolutely adored reading this novel and I thought it a work well researched and creatively written.

Love the drama and glamour of the 1920's and even better packed into the wild Kenyan setting. Very 'Great Gatsby' but still enjoyable in its own merit.

A very well written book with excellent descriptions of Africa in the 1920/1930’s, giving a good insight into the Happy Valley set and the way of life as well as the country itself. Sadly the story was’nt really for me, the characters didn’t seem believable or even likeable and it was all rather sordid.

It may not be my usual genre of choice but I do enjoy a dip into some good historical fiction now and then and this was an excellent choice. Set in Kenya, mainly Nairobi and Naivasha, during the days of the notorious “Happy Valley Set”, this is a tale that initially hints at a life of glamour. Once it delves beneath the surface though it reveals so much hidden beneath the veneer of success of opulence.

The book follows Theo, a teenager whose family have moved to Kenya for his father’s job in Nairobi with the rail road. Theo has a strained relationship with his mother and feels the pressure of his father’s desire that he will take over his role at the rail road when he is older, but he has a close and loving relationship with his younger sister Maud.

Not long into their new life they encounter Freddie and Sylvie; two charming and beautiful people with whom Freddy forms an immediate link. Despite his tender years they pull him into their world of colonial decadence and set in place a saga that is full of passion, obsession and ultimately tragedy.

With some of the characters based around real people involved in a huge scandal back in the day, Kat Gordon has written a brilliant novel that provides wonderful views in the mind’s eye of Lake Naivasha and Kenya as a whole and also cringingly real snippets of the spoilt, entitled and sometimes perverse behaviour of many (not all of course) British people living there at that time.

This is a tale that is exciting, ultimately dark and incredibly sad and written beautifully. Definitely a recommendation from me and I will be keeping my eyes open for more from this author in the future.

I have read some reviews of this story which complain about a “Gatsby rip-off” but I felt this book completely stands alone and transported me to 1920’s Kenya in a world of privilege and wealth and appearances. I loved how at the end of the book there were references and insights into the real life characters the Happy Valley set were based on, and it does echo the glamour and vanity that we want from that period. I am desperate to see this story on screen!

I love books about historical Rich People problems, and the Happy Valley/Kenya colonial set has provided some really good reading for me over the years. This has a very readable style, but for a long period of the book I wasn't quite sure where it was going. A sudden plot development near the end felt like it didn't have enough time to develop/unfold. It's inspired by the Happy Valley set, but more in the outlines of the characters rather than the events. I found it hard to understand why they would have taken 14 year old Theo under their wings (it felt a bit icky) and I found his continuing naivety a bit grating at times.

So good in principle, and readable, but not as interesting as either real life or some of the other stories inspired by this lot. Try the Bolter (about Idina Sackville, and inexplicably not on the bibliopgraphy for this, althought The Temptress (about Alice De Janze) was) for actual biography or Deanna Raybourn's A Spear of Summer Grass for Kenya colonial not-quite-as-wife-swappy-as-it-was action.

I loved this atmospheric story - the Happy Valley set in pre war Kenya, and all the tensions that came as war approached. The Empire is crumbling, and they cannot countenance a life elsewhere.
Theo and his sister arrived in Kenya as young teens, and quickly became immersed in their new, colonial lifestyle. Hedonistic friends shaped their lives, until a tragedy threatened to cause them to leave.
I thoroughly recommend this book. Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The author transports you to Kenya in the blink of an eye in this novel as Maud and Theo make a new life for themselves and the 1920's roar into life in front of your eyes. This book has fascism, sexism, getting older. There are physical and emotional situations to overcome as in that time people were treated very differently and the author has ensured this is brought out in the book to make it more real for the era. I find this a brilliant novel I would definitely read again.

I enjoy reading historical fiction especially when it’s in regards to the British Empire and the lives of the colonialists. Whether it’s set in India, Africa etc. If you enjoy books by Dinah Jefferies, Marius Gabriel and Janet Trotter MacLeod, then this book is definitely for you and should be added to your reading list.


The Miller family have just moved out to Nairobi, as Mr Miller Senior is now the director of the railways. Which he came out to build in 1896 when he was just an engineer.

However the story is based on his sons life. Theo Miller is a 14 year old boy, who is bright, ambitious and can’t wait to start his new life in Nairobi, along with his 12 year old sister Maud.

The family spend two weeks on the coast of Africa with family friends while they acclimatise to Africa and before their long journey to Nairobi.

On their first week in Nairobi Theo and the rest of his family meet Freddie Hamilton and his friend Sylvie de Croÿ an American Heiress. They are known as the Happy Valley Set. Who the original colonialists look down on due to their behaviour.

Even though Theo was just a boy Freddie and Sylvie take him under their wings and welcome him into their inner circle. The parties he went to were raucous and usually scandalous, with all of their drinking and sexual party games. They are also very self centred and self absorbed and don’t care who they offend or insult.

Theo becomes infatuated with Freddie but more so with Sylvie. He wants to bathe in her love and affection, and does all he can to spend as much time with her as possible.

Sylvie is a very troubled woman and always goes after men who don’t fall over themselves to be with her. Flitting from one husband to another with other lovers in between.

During Theo’s time in Nairobi he encounters great loss as things and times are changing as colonialism is coming to and end, but will Theo ever see through Freddie’s and Sylvie’s complicated and scandalous lives before he gets dragged down with them?

Though vividly well written, I found this book rather uncomfortable to read and was rather sad for most of it. The story about life in Kenya in the 1930s when expats lived hedonistic lives with servants to look after them. It follows the lives of Theo and his sister Maud and their interaction with the locals and a group of people known as the Happy Valley set who seemed to have parties all the time involving lots of alcohol and orgies. The characters seemed like they enjoyed these lives but soon became bored with their lot, seeking but not finding meaning in their lives. The book does say a lot about how the British treated the people of other nations believing themselves to be superior.
As I said, well written but sad.

I received an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins, and the author Kat Gordon.
I really enjoyed this novel and its depiction of life in Kenya and the hedonistic ‘happy valley set’.
I’d be interested to read more about the expat life in Africa during this time and would definitely read another of Kat Gordon’s novels.

A difficult read as a young man starts to feel his feet in a new country and new world. It takes some thinking about!

Quite the journey through pre war (II) Kenya and the start of awareness of how Africans and Animals should be treated, but very early days! The bolt hole for some English aristocracy finding Post WW I Britain changing. Not a comfortable read for present day beliefs, but very well written and believable. Whites behaving badly, keeping up appearances, doing some good, enjoying the luxury of cheap labour/staff. However, bringing to one's attention the fact that if only the Whites had all behaved honourably, with moral fortitude, then maybe things would have worked out differently. Setting an example would have been so much better than "taking advantage".
A great compelling.read.

The happy Valley set are selfish inconsiderate people living a decadent lifestyle with complete disregard for the country they are in and the native inhabitants, or even each other. I didn't like any of the characters, except for Maud, so there sad no happy ending. A vivid picture of the colonial days in Africa, and really makes you understand what damage was done by colonisation

An abrupt coming of age story set against the backdrop of colonial Britain. Both elements are seamlessly interwoven and cleverly combine the rigours of moving into young adulthood in a society grounded on strict class and racial divides and injustices. A book to learn from.

I loved this bool from start to finish and found it hard to put it down. It’s all about an English family growing up in Africa in the 1930s and the how and downs and politics of it. It has some sad bits along the way but I don’t want to ruin it by saying what

This book is difficult to define. At times it feels like a family saga, at others it is a commentary on lifestyles that seem debauched in nature. Its title confuses me - as I read it the MC is a Male influenced by several unsuitable women. It was originally called "The Hunters" to be fair that Title makes no more sense as hunting is only a small part of the narrative.

It seems to get off to a great start, a cold and clinical murder of an unknown person. It isn't all bad. It is easy enough to read but fails to live up to that opening scene. I do think the author has captured the "spirit" of the country but she has several disparate narrative lines which she fails to bring together in a satisfying way. I couldn't really feel anything for the characters as they were drawn by this author

I didn't struggle to get through or ever truly want to give up It simply didn't carry me away.