The Ribbon of Sand

This is the story of an English girl who travels to Nigeria at the end of its colonial days to work as a shorthand typist in the government secretariat. She finds love with the African servant of an elderly bachelor expatriate who has created a business empire, which he bequeaths to her. The story follows the pleasures and problems this creates for her.

The author was born in 1938. After surviving a traumatic Second World War, various schools and National Service in Air Traffic Control, he began banking in West Africa, returning to banking in this country several years later when Nigeria descended into civil war. It was never knowingly his intention to become an author but writing fiction in its various forms seemed to come naturally when his career in banking was abruptly terminated by a complete mental breakdown. The result of this was being prematurely retired on a modest pension in 1984. As a bachelor in his late forties, he spent several months in hospital before going to live with his widowed mother where he continued the writing he had begun in the hospital.

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5.0

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Ivor R

Out of the ordinary tale of life and love among the expatriate community in Lagos, Nigeria, before and after the country's independence in 1960. The story follows a young English girl through her love affair with the Nigerian servant of a very wealthy English businessman who owns a conglomerate company which itself owns companies in all regions of the country. It is because he is neutral that the disparate interests are held together.

The author, who worked in Nigeria at the time, weaves a range of individual stories of people caught up in rapidly changing times with the eye for detail of someone who watched them at close quarters. The stories are clear cut, the people differentiated, and the pace does not slow, and the ending is unexpected.

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Ivor R

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