A Monkey's Wedding

"A rollicking adventure, written with wit and grace, about a remarkable family that spanned an empire and helped forge a continent. I loved it." Douglas Rogers, author of The Last Resort and Two Weeks in November.

Every family has its stories. Ours just happen to involve empires, 1820 Settlers at the Cape, 1890 Pioneers in Rhodesia. War heroes. International sportsmen. A roll call of colourful characters who chased gold, dug diamonds, and brought sugar farming to Africa.

That's the heroic version.

But the reality is messier and even more interesting.

Bad bets and lost fortunes, surviving shipwrecks and land-mines and German grandmothers, suing a Zulu chief, a fishing trip hijacked by 29 hippos, being coached by Barry Richards and Greer Stevens, a murdered housemaid, shopping trips with an Uzi, serial boarding school floggings, meeting Miss World Penny Ray, playing rugby against the All Blacks and British Lions, negotiating with a despotic Zimbabwean president, and many more amazingly true stories.

"Africa can still be mined for stories, and A Monkey's Wedding is gold. It is the grit and serendipity, the bravery and the unexpected, that gives depth and fascination to Lloyd's multi-generational tale. Compelling!" Rick Antonson, author of Slumach's Gold and To Timbuktu for a Haircut.

Sadly, I'm not the even the hero of my own life story because it turns out my family tree is full of real heroes.

'A Monkey's Wedding' tells the true story of my family's seven-generation journey through southern Africa, set against the rise and retreat of empire. What happened to those who emigrated to the UK and Australia? And what happened to those who stayed behind? And why one cousin even returned with a young family from Australia to Zimbabwe.

Think of it as a 200-year South Africa and Rhodesia life story, choc-full of true stories of Southern African pioneer history and African frontier history. But 'A Monkey's Wedding' is more than just my colonial Africa personal story ... there are probably universal similarities to your family, with the themes of adventure and adaptation, and having the balls to go and find a better life on the other side of the world.

If you enjoyed the writing of Peter Godwin and Alexandra Fuller, this memoir could be for you.

"A fascinating, sweeping tale of one extended family's roots and lives in wild places and tumultuous times."
Tony Park, best-selling author of Far Horizon.

With 24 pages of rare, some never-published, photos. Plus maps of South Africa and Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe showing areas of activity, and brief history timelines of both countries to help put everything in context.