A personal account of the experiences of a young English family living in East Africa during the last few years of colonial rule. Colman, with his wife and infant son, went out to the University College of East Africa in 1953. This was the start of an academic career that led him to Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar where he was well placed to observe these countries' rush for independence. Here the exotic scene is vividly recaptured. Domestic details, social and racial relations, political events, shopping, scandal, all serve to bring to life the confusion and uncertainty of that era.