Wives Win, a 1931 drama by Florence Riddell, attracted me with its Art Deco cover. Riddell is the perfect person to relate this story of a young English woman learning to survive in Kenya, as she once lived there. The novel is dedicated 'in memory of days in Kenya'.
A male author might write about the droughts, hard labour running a coffee plantation, and native uprisings. A female of the time might write about pleasing her man above all, even though he has a wandering eye. In Wives Win you get an interesting mix of the two. Not Out of Africa, but in the neighbourhood.
Mary 'Dell' Kennedy is fresh faced at twenty-two, eager to follow her beau and be married in Kenya at the coffee plantation she herself just bought them. Terry has been there three years already when she sets out, only to receive a letter mid-journey telling her not to come. He has fallen in love with Claire, another man's wife - an older woman at almost thirty. Shocked, she continues on and when he finally meets Dell, he realizes his affair with Claire was a mistake. They marry and embark on a tough life with the other English plantation owners, living off the land in round huts of metal and mud, an outdoor table for a kitchen, and a stream of native helpers. Days can be gruelling but occasional picnics with friends help pass the time. When things get rough, there is drought and no money - even an uprising which finds Dell attacked and wandering the night plains alone. Claire fancies herself a lady and still has her claws in Terry - and according to the gossip, he is responding. When he falls sick with malaria, Dell sees a good chance to ship him back to England to recover. She takes over running the plantation and has her best years - even giving birth to their son at home by herself and raising him alone.
This could turn out to be a story of a strong independent woman in the wilds of Kenya, but this was written in 1931, when no woman was complete without a man.
This moves along quickly, and is full of characters and anecdotes that could easily have been taken from Riddell's life. There is also an older English traveller who stays with them between safaris, the quiet man she met on the voyage over who turns out to be a neighbour - carrying a torch for Dell. The ins and outs of the lives of the English in 1930's Kenya is interesting throughout.
A portrait of a woman's strength.
1931 / Hardcover / 304 pages
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