In Search of Africa

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Two countries in turmoil, two lives betrayed and one love that links them.

Kip Balmain, a young Australian boy taken to a small town in Africa, finds himself caught up in the violence of colonial Kenya. As the country struggles towards independence, Kip also struggles to understand his mother's vindictive hatred of the father he has never met - and resolves to uncover the mystery of his parentage. In Uganda, Rose Nasonga, a girl at risk after her idyllic village life becomes a nightmare of civil war, uses her beauty to escape into the world of fashion, but learns that her new life can be equally destructive.Out of the horrors of war, across the boundaries of time and race, Kip and Rose discover that their lives are mysteriously linked. And that the paths they travel alone, and ultimately together, lead them inexorably to their greatest discovery. 'robust adventure ... Coates does a fine job suffusing his novel with Eastern Africa's postwar history' tHE AGE 'powerfully recreates the turbulent past' COURIER-MAIL

Author Bio

Frank Coates was born in Melbourne, ran away to Africa in 1989 at the age of 45, joined a UN team in Nairobi as a technical expert and a year later, on the shores of Lake Victoria, married a Tanzanian of the Nyamwezi tribe. It was a life-changing experience for the ex-Telecom Australia engineer who had earlier worked in Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. The UN contract ended, but Frank was now hooked on Africa, and worked as a consultant in countries from Kenya to Swaziland and from Mozambique to Botswana. It was during these four years that he developed his passionate interest in the political and cultural history of East Africa. His marriage didn't survive the continental shift back to Australia and he and his 'African princess' divorced some years later. They say that those who have spent time in Africa can't easily forget the experience, so after denying his urge to write for thirty years, when Frank finally began his writing career in 2001, his imagination took him back to Africa. His first novel, Tears of the Maasai made the best-seller's list in 2004. He then gave up his day job to write full time.