The Cracks in the Pavement

The Cracks in the Pavement by Elizabeth McDougall. This is the story of a dysfunctional white family - the Kingstons - set against the beautiful, at times dangerous, but always fascinating background of colonial pre-independent Kenya of the nineteen forties and fifties. It follows the youngest child in the family, Mardy, from childhood into adulthood struggling to make sense of a grown-up, parental world she cannot understand but often resents. Her 'little girl' close relationship with a young Italian, who later erupts into her life with dire consequences, all influence the grown-up Mardy Kingston. Africans, her black nursemaid in particular, play a very important role in her young life. Although she comes from a white settler culture she does not always subscribe to it. This is the Africa of the last century, an Africa that is now nearly gone. Violence; animals (charming and also terrifying); blue warm seas; palm trees; love (and hate) affairs; colonial charmers who are larger than life. All these, plus an embattled relationship with her mother, form Mardy's character and make her the attractive, complicated and sensual girl she becomes.