Drums On The Night Air

Product Description

Veronica Cecil was twenty-five years old when her husband was offered a job at a large multi-national company in the Congo. Filled with enthusiasm for their new life, the couple & their eleven-month-old son set off for an African adventure. Very soon, however, Veronica began to realise that life in the Congo was not what she had imagined. Food shortages were an everyday occurrence; she felt like an outsider at the club in Leopoldville, which only the Belgians & other expats frequented; & flickers of violence were starting to erupt everywhere. Six months later Veronica & her family were sent to Elizabetha, a remote palm oil plantation on the banks of the Congo River. But even here paradise didn`t last. Civil war broke out, & the rebels captured the neighbouring town of Stanleyville & took all the whites hostage. Despite the fact that Veronica was on the verge of giving birth, the situation was so dangerous that she & her toddler had to be evacuated. Leaving her husband & all their possessions behind, she & her son began on a two-day journey through the jungle. But on the plane back to Leopoldville, the first labour pains began... Praise for ” Letters From Abroad”, written & read by Veronica Cecil, BBC Radio 4: ”...absolutely enthralling.” (” Daily Telegraph”). ” Blending her personal memories with the wider picture, Miss Cecil effortlessly packs more into her quarter hour than many an hour long documentary...” (” Daily Mail”).