A Rhodesian Childhood

Helen McLaren was born in 1924 in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), on a farm called Paradise near the small town of Marandellas, south-east of Salisbury (Harare). This book is a fascinating account of her early childhood growing up in the harsh but beautiful environment of the African bush. Offering an insight into the experience of life at that time, her story also gives a sense of a much-loved country, now long gone. Helen moved to England after the Second World War and settled in the West Country. She married Roland Sandeman and had three children and eight grandchildren. The interests sparked by her childhood experiences never left her: an insatiable energy for new friends and places; a deep love of the natural environment; a passion for the other worlds discovered in books; and an irresistible zest for life.