Child of Happy Valley

Child of Happy Valley by Carberry, Juanita. hardcover edition. ISBN: 0000434007293.

Juanita Carberry spent her childhood in the 1920s and 1930s on a beautiful Kenyan coffee farm. Brought up by her fathers black servants and white governesses, much of her time was spent riding and with the tame wild animals, including chimps and cheetahs, who lived on the estate. Although her mother was killed in a flying accident when she was three, Juanita did not discover this until, when she was six, a cousin taunted her with the truth. For this was the White Mischief era, when parents were busy partying and children lived their own hidden lives. But children cannot hide for ever. There was school to attend in Europe and later South Africa, a different establishment each year, where she struggled to speak English instead of Swahili. At fifteen Juanita became involved in the Lord Erroll affair: she is the only person to whom Delves Broughton confessed to the murder of Lord Erroll. This is Juanitas story: a colourful and passionate memoir, which reveals the darkness behind glittering White Mischief society.