Theo’s family have moved to Nairobi for his fathers job on the railroad. Theo and his sister Maud are keen to discover their new world, Theo at 15 is at that awkward age where he is not a child yet is not an adult and is very impressionable.

When Theo meets glamorous Sylvia and Freddie, he is drawn into their lives like a moth to a flame. They belong to the “Happy Valley” set where they are all rich, spoilt and very shallow. From the outside they seem to have it all but they live in a world of affairs and secrets where no one wants to grow up and where people put their own feelings before others. There are lots of parties with a copious amount of alcohol, outrageous games that Theo is desperate to be part of if his mother loosens his apron strings!!

I absolutely loved this book, one minute I’m sat in my conservatory listening to the rain reading this book then I’m transported to Africa with its vivid descriptions. It was so beautifully written that I felt like I was there listening to the sounds and smells of Africa.

Will definitely read another of Kat Gordon’s books.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Just seeing Kenya in the description was enough for me to want to read the book!

You see, my family, both my parents were born in Kenya to Indian Immigrant parents, and I have spent many a summer going there to visit.

It was great to read names of places and to be able to picture them and to know the names of the tribes mentioned, and the descriptions of some of the places, and animals...

But I'll tell you a secret... I was never told of the Happy Valley set, and the indulgence, and the debauchery!

This story is set between the years of 1925 and 1937, following the life of 14-year-old Theo Miller who moves to Kenya with his family for his father's job heading the railways. He gets caught up in the antics of Freddie and Sylvia, and their little Happy Valley band, wanting to be accepted by them, and dreaming of being just like them. ( I must ask my parents if they were aware of the goings on of the Happy Valley Set... My mum went to a British boarding school out there, so you never know...)

Though his thinking is not always aligned with theirs: their views of British supremacy, and how they are making the lives better for the natives, by keeping them in their place clash with Theo's sister Maud, who is appalled by the double standards, choosing to try and fight for natives rights and those of the natural farmers in the area.

An interesting read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and Borough Press for providing me with an ARC. in exchange for an honest review.

This book is amazing. It spans the years between 1925 and 1938 n colonial Africa and is an exceptional read. I could almost see the stunning scenery and smell the different smells as the descriptions were so vivid.
The story is centred on the lives of a brother and sister aged fourteen and eleven on arrival in Africa with their parents, follows them into adulthood and is told by the brother, Theo.
The family settle in Kenya and Theo is taken under the wing of the Happy Valley Set under the guise of friendship. These people were rich, hedonistic, spoilt and had virtually no morals. He becomes particularly close to Freddie and Sylvie who do everything to excess and don’t appear to have a decent bone in their bodies.
Theo’s sister Maud is sickened by their lifestyle and horrified as the years go by, that Theo is so influenced by them. She is an early feminist and conservationist, and hates the overt racialism practiced by so many people.
Many of the characters in the book are based on real people who were part of the Happy Valley Set, which makes it even more eye opening with regard to this extraordinary period.

This is an elegant book, much like the characters in the story. You can almost hear them speaking with their well-modulated voices and confident tones. I absolutely loved it and was drawn in so much that I didn't want to put it down, and was sad when it ended. I remember my parents speaking in a similar way. They had very strong views about where the English stood in the world scene. I remember my brother saying, 'Why does Dad think we are better than anyone else in the world?' He couldn't understand it either, the thought that those from other countries didn't have the confidence or the knowledge to make life better for themselves, that they needed 'us' to take over. The relationship between the characters was pretty like the one I'd become used to, a kind of distance love if you like, one where you weren't cossetted and supported like children are today, but where you just had to get on with it. Theo had to grow up very quickly, and it was remiss of his parents to allow him to socialise with Freddie and Sylvie, but they didn't question it. My parents wouldn't have either. And it was obvious they were the beginning of the very dark times in Kenya, instigated by those in the Happy Valley set. Maud was a joy, the beginning of strong women making their mark and doing what they thought was right. There is always a price to pay!
A wonderful book, full of intrigue, naughtiness, irreverence. Brilliant!
My thanks to Kat Gordon, The Borough Press and Net Galley for my ARC.

I thought that this was slow with unpleasant characters. The fact that it was based on real people and events did not make it more interesting - it was very seedy and sordid. A fourteen year old boy gets basically corrupted when he is befriended by members of a very "fast" set in Kenya. He forms an obsession with Sylvie, who is indeed a very unsuitable woman. It all ends very badly. Not my sort of thing at all.

I have read this book under the new title An Unsuitable Woman with a publication date of 16/5/19. I was drawn into the story from the first page and enjoyed the tale of white settlers in Kenya in the 1920's- 1930's. Interesting characters and plot, and very well researched. The behaviour and attitude of the Happy Valley Set (without the alcohol and sexual shenanigans) seems reminiscent of childhood and teenage exploits when one escaped ones parents for a weekend - pushing the boundaries in any way one could. They just didn't want to grow up and accept their responsibilities. Until they did. I have given this book one of my quite rare five stars. With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was gripped by the first sentence of this book. Slow moving at times but always picks up pace and keeps you gripped. Following the central character Theo who from the start becomes embroiled into a world of privilege and the social circles he becomes drawn in. It is an atmospheric beautifully written novel that resembles at times The Great Gatsby where there are always undertones to what is said and nothing is quite as it seems. The novel shows the political views, racist issues, class and feminist points of view. How Theo and his sister at such a young age are circling the same social situations but how their approach and perspective differs. The Hunter family vividly describe settling in Nairobi and the relationships between each other especially between Theo, Maud and his mum.

A well-researched, deep dive into a sordid, decadent world full of characters who are difficult to sympathise with but fascinating to watch. An Unsuitable Woman strips much of the glamor of the Happy Valley Set and exposes these people for what they were.

Theo and Maud Miller are completely unprepared for life in the 1920s Nairobi ex-pat community and are quickly swept up the dramas. Brilliantly researched and beautifully written with well-developed characters.

What's it about?

Theo Miller is fourteen years old when he first sets foot on the dusty Kenyan plains. Neither he nor his sister Maud are ready for the heat and dazzle of 1920s Nairobi and they quickly get swept up in the drama of the ex-pat community. 

Theo meets Sylvie de Croÿ and Freddie, Lord Hamilton. They are magnetically charming and accept the teenager into their inner circle, a whirlwind of glamour and hedonism. Yet behind the allure lies danger, betrayal and violence that is barely kept in check. As storm clouds gather over Kenya, Theo must find his way back to his family before it's too late. 

My thoughts

There's something intoxicating about this book. The dark glamour of the Happy Valley set, the fascination of 1920s Kenya, and the seething undercurrent of emotion all combine to make this story really very special. I didn't want it to be over. 

With regards to the style, if you think F. Scott Fitzgerald crossed with Karen Blixen, you won't be far off. At some points, the behaviour of the Happy Valley set was so reminiscent of The Great Gatsby that I felt the characters could have been lifted from some lost Fitzgerald novel. Yet these characters were largely based on real people (Sylvie on Alice de Janzé - even her daughters' names are the same) so the plot inspiration is probably minimal here. 

Gordon has certainly done her research. The descriptions of Nairobi are wonderfully evocative; you can almost feel the heat rising from the pages. The way she writes about the land and the animals is beautifully expressive; there's a particular encounter with a leopard that stopped my breath. The people are also well-depicted. It would clearly have helped that Gordon had a wealth of source material to draw from, but her skill in putting them on the page is undeniable. She inspires an odd mix of revulsion and pity through their characterisation, again reminiscent of Fitzgerald. I loved how the sheen on their lives was so easily rubbed away; it made them very real for me. 

Then there are the characters of Theo and Maud. As far as I'm aware, they are both entirely fictional and serve as a window to the expat world. We grow and change with Theo, see him become an adult but one unable to shake off his childhood obsession with the Happy Valley set. Through him, we have a glimpse of their world, and through Maud, we have an insight to the Kenyan farming crowd. I won't give anything away about their lives, except to say that they are subject to forces bigger than them. 

Would I recommend it?

Yes, definitely. I've already got it earmarked for my mother. 

If you enjoy it, there are myriad other works about this subset of Kenyan society. I recommend White Mischief by James Fox and The Bolter by Frances Osborne.

This is a very well written and researched book set in 1930s Kenya, not a location with which I had any previous knowledge. It seemed apparent that the author knows and loves the country as her evocation of place is superb with beautiful descriptions of scenery, flora and fauna. Kat Gordon also has an excellent sense of time and this can only have come about through research. Her writing clearly establishes the growing tensions in 1930s Kenya underscored by the completely different lifestyles of the privileged ex-pat, mostly British, community and the local black community.

The plot concerns the 'Happy Valley' set, the main protagonists being Freddie and Sylvie, pseudonyms for two real life characters of the time: Josslyn Hay and Alice de Janze, The story is narrated by Theo who arrived in Kenya aged 14 with his parents and sister from Edinburgh. Theo is in thrall to the glittering, hedonistic lifestyles of Freddie and Sylvie and over the ensuing years becomes completely seduced by their life and values to the detriment of everyone else around him. I found the voice of Theo very convincing but think I would also have liked more of Maud's (his sister) voice in the story. She is a very important character in the whole tale and one of the few likeable people in the book.

While the novel mostly concerns itself with the relationships between the characters this is the thread through which the reader learns more about the development of the railways in Kenya, the growth of fascism in the UK and Kenya and the impact of the second world war on capitalism and privilege.

The Hunters is not a comfortable read but it is gripping and eloquent.

I received a complimentary e-version of this book from the publisher via Net Galley in return for an honest review.

I thought this was a well-researched and enjoyable novel about the Happy Valley set. It was more than just a romp through 1920's Kenya and asked some important questions about colonialism and the negative affects it had on the indigenous population.
I also like that it showed the darker side of the Happy Valley set, something that can often be too romanticised. Really enjoyed it and would recommend.

The Hunters is a very atmospheric novel set in Kenya in the 1920s and 30s. The book really shines in its descriptions of time and place, which make it come alive. The story moves slowly, but is quite engaging and something new to me. Overall, an enjoyable, thought-provoking read!

Vacation time, time to escape, to dream and relax.



Ever since visiting Kenya for the first time in the late seventies have I held a special affection for Kenya and Africa which has affected many of my reading choices over the years. To name only a few, Karen Blixen’s classic and famous “Out of Africa”, Beryl Markham’s “West of Sunset”, Kuki Gallman’s “I dreamed of Africa”, Paula McLain's “Circling the sun” and James Fox's “White Mischief”. My latest pick, Kat Gordon's “The Hunters” which is set in 1925-1938 in what was then British East Africa borrows heavily from the characters in “White Mischief”, also called “The Happy Valley set” but giving them new identities and using the liberties of fiction.



The beauty, wealth, drinking and sexual activities during wild parties of the Happy Valley Set were scandalous and frowned upon by the mostly conservative white East African community. Theo Miller is fifteen when he and his sister Maud arrive in Nairobi with their parents, their father is to oversee the building of the new railroad in Kenya. Theo with his good looks immediately catches the attention of Sylvie de Croy and Freddie with their circle of heavily partying friends. He has his first introduction into drinking and watching their scandalous behavior very soon, feeling strongly attracted in particular to Sylvie de Croy , her husband Nicolas, a French Count and Freddie, Sylvie’s lover. Theo and Maud fall in love with their new life considering Kenya their true home, enchanted by the wilderness, the animals and natives. The life of the British settlers then with mostly wealthy backgrounds and their life style is something completely foreign to us today as was their paternising behavior towards the Kenyan tribes using them as cheap labour to afford their life style. Theo has a complex relationship with his mother who is at first less than enchanted with her new home, distancing herself from her children and husband with volunteer work chosing to life mostly in Nairobi and not their Riff valley house in Kiboko.
The novel is told from Theo's perspective over 13 years of his life, from his coming of age into adulthood, his destructive passion for Sylvie and admiration for Freddie, his love for his sister Maud. “The Hunters” makes for a great holiday read, a good page-turner with many colorful characters painting a very atmospheric portrait of Kenya up to WW II. I found the ending a little too predictable but this did not diminish my joy reading this book.

An engrossing portrayal of colonial Africa that gives a wonderful sense of menace and corruption under the thin veneer of white rule. You can smell Africa in this heady novel that tells the story of two siblings, brought out to Africa in the thirties by their father's job, and how Africa shapes and changes them. Theo, at 14 and on the cusp of manhood, falls instantly for the glamorous Sylvie and Freddie, her friend, part of the Happy Valley set. Maud is a gentler, thoughtful girl who finds and experiences a very different Africa to Theo. Their lives are poles apart but the sweeping saga conveys the conflicts and dangers, thrills and savagery that are part of this life. I so enjoyed this and read it compulsively. I loved the blend of fact and fiction and the clear-eyed, unbiased view of life under the African skies.

This historical novel takes place in Kenya, from 1925 to 1937. It begins with a family heading to the Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi. Mr William Miller is the Director of the railway the family are travelling on. His wife, Jessie Miller, is a slightly unpredictable presence in the life of her children – twelve year old Maud and fourteen year old Theo.

Theo is described as variously ‘girlish looking,’ and pretty. Bullied at school, he is hoping for a new start in Kenya and certainly gets one when, at the hotel, he draws the attention of the glamorous Freddie Hamilton and Sylvie de Croy. For anyone who has read about the Happy Valley Set in Kenya before, it is soon apparent that Sylvie is based upon Alice de Janze, while Freddie was inspired by Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll.

Those two, real life, characters, were involved in a murder mystery and this novel also begins with a murder; although we have to wait until the end of the novel to discover who died. Like the Earl of Erroll, Freddie has links to Oswald Mosley and this novel touches on the impending war in Europe, as well as Colonialism and the history of Kenya.

Of course, the Happy Valley set were notorious for scandalous behaviour, and, once Theo becomes involved with Freddie and Sylvie, he is thrilled by their glamorous lifestyle. By comparison, his parents appear boring, his mother controlling and his father dull. It is not utterly believable that a fourteen year old boy would be so accepted by these privileged, exotic group. Still, both Theo and Maud make an interesting comparison to the adults around them, and their eyes allow us to see everything with innocent eyes. Overall, an enjoyable and readable historical novel. I received a copy of this book from the publishers, via NetGalley, for review.

"They were careless people... they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

This is the Great Gatsby set in Kenya. The above Gatsby quote easily applies to the Happy Valley hedonists of this novel because, as with all hedonists, their behaviour is at some point hurtful - in order to achieve their own maximum joy, others are forced to lose some of theirs. Besides, as Sylvie identifies: "No one can have everything they want; the gods don't let that happen."

The Hunters is is a rich, beautifully descriptive and well-researched book, that made me feel like I was in the scorching heat of Africa, surrounded by the sights, smells, food and people of the period described.

The most interesting character is certainly Maud, the lead character's sister. Her development and journey is the one we identify with most as modern readers, as other characters are largely unlikeable or frustrating for a plethora of reasons, whereas Maud is the voice of the future and of reason. She is the panacea to Freddie, Sylvia and Theo.

Inevitably for the period and place, the novel is forced to explore the racist thinking that was prevalent in those times. The sadder part of that is that a lot of this thinking still exists today and some of the political views espoused are not dissimilar to what we might read about today. A timely read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, The Borough Press, Harper Collins Publishers and Kat Gordon for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will be purchasing this novel for a friend once it is published because I thought it was so good.

It's the roaring 1920s, and Theo Miller is just fourteen when he moves to Nairobi with his family. Having been strictly raised and consistently disciplined by his mother, the young teenager had not been prepared for the changes that were about to come to his life. But after he has met the stunning American heiress, Sylvie, and her strong willed lover, Freddie, the change is inevitable.

Theo finds himself in a completely different kind of life, one in which he no longer wants to inherit his father's place as a Director of the Kenyan Railways . Infatuated with Sylvie, she and her company is all he can think of anymore. However, as years go by, Theo will have to come to some hard decisions. Are these people really his friends? Are they really harmless, as he has been telling himself for years? As the Second World War rapidly approaches and Kenya is on a hard political and cultural place, Theo will have to choose between protecting his sister or his so-called friends, while making some really hard choices for his future.

The Hunters is a highly enjoyable read. Set in an era of white colonialism and oppressed natives, the story of Theo is realistic, raw at times, and utterly captivating. Its strongest asset is definitely its characters, with Theo's sister, Maud, standing out among all the self-centered characters with whom her brother has been involved. Incredibly well researched and historically accurate, this is a book that all fans of historical fiction will enjoy.

Thanks HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and netgalley for this ARC,

Kat Gordon really makes you feel like you are in Africa with this novel. The descriptions are intense, colorful, and cinematic, Loved the saga of this family and the Happy Valley set.

This is a well researched and highly readable novel based on the 'Happy Valley' set in Africa. This coterie of hedonistic aristocratic white colonialists are not exactly my cup of tea but the author does an excellent job in bringing them to life. The narrator is (at the beginning of the story) 14 year old Theo, a middle class boy of extraordinary good looks who immediately befriends the fascinating Freddie and Sylvie even though they are several years older than him. His relationship with them and the repercussions of this dominate the novel but it is the story of his sister Maud that resonates most with me. Her heartbreaking story of forbidden love and fight against colonialism is moving and Theo becomes a much more sympathetic character in his interactions with her.