Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh
Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh
Hi All!
Today is my stop on the Leopard at the Door blog tour and I’m here with a review of the book.
Here’s more info on the book first!
Stepping off the boat in Mombasa, eighteen-year-old Rachel Fullsmith stands on Kenyan soil for the first time in six years. She has come home.
But when Rachel reaches the family farm at the end of the dusty Rift Valley Road, she finds so much has changed. Her beloved father has moved his new partner and her son into the family home. She hears menacing rumours of Mau Mau violence, and witnesses cruel reprisals by British soldiers. Even Michael, the handsome Kikuyu boy from her childhood, has started to look at her differently.
Isolated and conflicted, Rachel fears for her future. But when home is no longer a place of safety and belonging, where do you go, and who do you turn to?
My Review
As soon as I heard about this book, I was drawn to it and couldn’t wait to read it. It sounded different and interesting and I was certain that I would love it. Upon opening the first page and starting to read, I realised that my premonitions on this book were correct. It hooked me from the very beginning and transported me to Africa with relative ease. Within moments I found myself engulfed by the words. Which is always what I love about reading. On this feeling alone, I would definitely recommend this book.
Jennifer has done a fantastic job with the narration and plot of this book. Everything moved smoothly and she planted background information from the main protagonists point of view into the story so subtly and it worked incredibly well. There were also little hints along the way of things to come which was great to read. But incidentally it was her attention to detail that made me love this book so much. Knowing how the atmosphere in the room felt or how a character was moving their hands really strung the emotion out of the book.
I’m sure I almost always tell you that my favourite character is the protagonist and this book is no different. Jennifer has written Rachel as a very relatable character who made me really feel so many emotions. She was strong but vulnerable, fierce but scared. The perfect balance of what humans are actually like. I was fascinated by her and she compelled me to continue reading.
This is a brilliant book to read. Immersive and interesting. It made my skin boil at points over the historical way natives of Africa were treated but that also just made the story that much more powerful. An emotional and moving story, this is a book that you won’t forget for a long time. I would highly recommend it and I am also very excited to read more work from Jennifer.
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