Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Bush Town Blues A '70s African Tale (Book One)

Author: Nina Jones

ISBN: 184386326X

Publisher: Vanguard Press

Nina Jones, having spent the first twenty one years of her life at locations in the bush lands of Northern Nigeria, now lives with her second husband in a village near Saffron Walden, Essex.

This is an absolutely brilliant book, full of laughs and tales from the African bush town  comically told by Nina who uses most of the observations from her numerous diaries which were written at the time.

Eighteen-year-old Janni has more than one thing on her mind when she arrives back in her family’s “little patch” of Africa, Gombe, eg sex, drugs and rock and roll. The young girls by the pool just don’t interest her, it’s the boys in the village who grab her attention.

Quite a rebellious teen, and fresh from a heart-breaking split with an Italian guy named Johnny, Janni takes it upon herself to find a man but with little to do in the wilderness apart from games of Scrabble and disagreements with her parents, the chances of finding herself a decent guy seem very slim. However all is not lost when Janni gets wind of an open club that is being hosted somewhere in the village. There the male population seems to be growing. Fit young men dance around to music, and alcohol is never far away.

However it is not long before Janni finds herself in deep water - sleeping with a married man is never a good idea. Who’d want to anyway? Janni apparently doesn’t mind coming second best and enjoys those secret moments together with her friend’s husband. Still her sensible side eventually gets the better of her and it is not long before another man has captured her attention.

Ghosts from the past rise up on the dusty African planes and see old friend reunited. However yet again, Janni is not as happy as she can be. Thoughts of ex, Johnny,who went off and married an Italian girl, keep coming back to her and ruining the future relationships she manages to forge. Yet Janni still can’t quite believe her luck that men have started to take a real interest in her. With a figure I feel most would die for and an attractive face, Janni can’t quite seem to grasp the affect she has on men.

This is an exciting tale, full of fun and laughs. Janni really captures the true essesnce of 70s Africa, we hear about everything that happened to Janni.  New exciting experiences, having her first joint by a pool and getting stoned, other times were absolute horrid ones especially where naïve Janni finds herself in a brothel.

Nina ( I think people preferred to call her Janni) tells us this tale in a very amusing way, each page filled with some tale  of her younger years and ultimately had me laughing out loud. Even the little episode of the mammy-wagon (I think this is like a bus in other countries) was absolutely hilarious, whether or not this was intended I don’t know. Something tells me it probably wasn’t really as a lot of people were injured when the wagon crashed into a kapok tree.

This thick volume should keep its readers amused from the very first chapter to the last page. There are also some moving parts to the tales. The one I found particularly awful was perhaps the episode of Janni meeting Italian Johnny and then sometime later Janni receiving a letter from her father telling her that Johnny had flown back to his country and married another girl. How absolutely awful! My heart was instantly with Janni, what a horrid thing to happen to one so young. It really broke my heart on her behalf. What it must have felt like for Janni, I will never know.

A wonderful book, absolutely enjoyable for anyone. It’s one of those books you can’t put down. I loved Nina’s writing style, she so vividly brings her characters and surroundings to life with her up-beat personality, wit and good sense of humour. Brilliant!

The above review was contributed by:  Jessica Roberts: Jessica has been a book reviewer for a newspaper and a national women's magazine and is working on a novel. To read more of Jessica's reviews CLICK HERE 

Click Here To Purchase From Amazon Bush Town Blues A '70s African Tale (Book One)