Painted Devils: And the Land of Ordinary Men (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781507796276)

Because storytellers were the only custodians of Africa's great history, the continent is rich with stories and as a colonial interloper the author has taken his cue from Africa's fireside orators. Born in South Africa, raised in Zanzibar and schooled in Kenya, the only child from an eccentric and dysfunctional family he felt the need to write from an early age. The rich, neglected history of his forebears died with them and this inspired him to tell a story. After Zanzibar's revolution in 1964, he was stranded in the country of his birth and finding the doors to the island closed forever, he was left with little choice. He attended the University of Cape Town, joined the clothing retail industry and eventually formed his own business. With the ingredients of an unusual and turbulent life as a young boy living in East Africa, the author knew he would eventually record his own tale for the generations that follow him. He and his wife developed a small wine farm in the Paarl valley where they lived for 20 years. They now live in the small village of Greyton in South Africa's Western Cape Province and the crucible for Painted Devils.