lorraine r latimer

When New Zealand adventurer Bill Latimer got the chance to work in Africa in 1952 he jumped at it. He and mate George had been travelling around the world in search of adventure when they hatched a plan to go to Africa. In London and after a few obstacles they managed to get jobs through the Union Corporation working in South Africa and in 1953 Bill signed up for a permanent job with the Northern Rhodesian Public Works Department in Lusaka. This was a job that suited him well, travelling throughout Northern Rhodesia in a Land Rover with a work force of natives and living rough.

With a permanent job and marriage on his mind Bill wrote to his Australian pen friend Alice, proposing she come to Africa and marry him. As Alice had only seen Bill in person for less than a week it was perhaps remarkable that she agreed!
After a 3,000 kilometre honeymoon drive from Cape Town to central Africa Alice conquered her culture shock and began to write weekly letters home to her mother giving remarkably detailed accounts of her and Bill’s life in Northern Rhodesia.

Unbeknown to Bill and Alice they were recording the last years of Northern Rhodesia’s existence - a life and culture about to disappear. In 1964 Britain withdrew the Colonial Service from Northern Rhodesia and Zambia was born.
This fascinating book will have you fully immersed in 1950s colonial African life.
This is the third book in the Bill and Alice series:

Bill and Alice in Australia and Britain 1949 -1951 (publication due February 2026)
Bill and Alice in a Courtship without Kisses 1950 - 1954 (publication due February 2026)
Bill and Alice in Africa 1952 - 1959
Bill and Alice at Home in Northern Rhodesia 1954 - 1959