Peponi: An East African Odyssey – John W Buckley

Working through a list of book titles to do with the First World War in Africa, I came across this one – a novel I hadn’t previously known of. It was published in 2009. As it was an EA WW1 novel, it had to be read. Sadly, by page 120 I was ready to put it aside and it was only the fact that I use novels as part of my research that I persisted in finishing the book.

I am fully aware of artistic and literary licence when it comes to historical novels, especially of the First World War in Africa, and have learnt to live with claims that don’t quite match the known facts or interpretations. However, John Buckley’s account managed to jar consistently – to the extent that I referred to the blurb and this seems to me to be the way to comment on the book:

The title: Peponi – this is the Swahili word for Paradise – I see Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Paradise was published in Swahili with the title Peponi in 2023 (which is great news). This only touches on the First World War but it leads into his later book Afterlives which is completely about the First World War. But back to Buckley’s Peponi – as the blurb says: “Peponi may be Swahili for paradise, but our British hero Craig Driscoll, learns that paradise is only attainable with the love of a beautiful and caring woman.” That give a bit of focus for the book – a romance filters through – and we are introduced to the types of contraception practised at the time as well as ways of determining the gender of a foetus before the use of scans. These interludes – and there are numerous others, tend to detract from what is described as a ‘page-turner’.

Concerning the ‘ferocious battle of both mind and armies for absolute control of a partitioned East Africa, this novel shimmers. Take one British military hero and his German counterpart, pit them against each other in a battle that will determine control of East Africa and you have John Buckley’s extraordinary Peponi. From the artistry of brilliantly described landscapes to the scholarly and meticulously presented history of this magnificent history of this magnificent part of Africa, the author pulls you into a story that build in suspense and excitement… right to the last page.’ Well, ‘meticulously presented history’ this is certainly not. Tanks and air dog fights are prominent features of the military tactics – these never featured in the East Africa theatre at all during the 1914-1918 war. Dates do not accord with what happened in reality and for anyone vaguely aware of the Lake Tanganyika expedition or the battle of Tanga will certainly raise eyebrows at the portrayal in this novel. And while literary licence is acceptable in the novel itself, there are inaccuracies in the historical background at the start of the book – Craig Driscoll is used when it should be Patrick or Dan Driscoll…

The book was set on Smashwords which suggests it was self-published – this is further evidenced in the inclusion of research material that doesn’t add to the story, as well as assumptions that readers understand Kiswahili, German, Kisii and Afrikaans.

What is of interest are the aspects chosen to include – despite the inaccuracies and different names used. The choice of name used is also an aspect to ponder upon – why have Louis Botha lead the 5,000 South Africans in East Africa and not Jan Smuts? And that it was published in 2009, five years before the centenary of the war – what spurred the author to investigate?

I’m going to try and find someone without knowledge of the First World War in Africa to read this novel to hear what they say as I’m conscious that my historical knowledge has clouded this read. If I do, I’ll be sure to add their comments.

How important are looks in decision-making?

It seems leaders are meant to have a certain look. Gordon Brown didn’t have it and it seems, based on bits I’ve read, neither does Kier Starmer. The fact that they get (or seem to get) things done is of secondary importance. It reminds me of a house having ‘character’. What is the ‘character’ we look for in a house or the ‘look’ a leader should have? Boris Johnston and Tony Blair or even David Cameron were quite different, Blair and Cameron having a more common look. What about Cyril Ramaphosa and Jacob Zuma? Their looks are quite different… Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabe, Nkrumah and Nyrere… The list could go on.

What inspired this consideration was a comment in Hew Strachan’s book on Financing the First World War, p60 where it’s noted that Edward Charles Grenfell (1870-1941), a banker and politician, thought the problem with Lord Cunliffe (Walter Cunliffe, 1855-1920) who was Governor of the Bank of England (1913-1918) being chairman of the London Exchange Committee ‘was his teeth, and that if he had only seen a dentist all would have been all right.’

This reminded me of the distrust Cabinet colleagues had in Lord Kitchener during the First World War as he had a squint.

Closer to home, not too long ago, I met someone in South Africa who had taken over a company they worked for. Since this person started running things the company has gone from strength to strength despite the current challenging times. To look at the person in a social setting you would have no idea they managed such a company – on meeting the person for the first time, I found myself questioning how they managed to run the organisation – they clearly do not ‘look the part’ – whatever that might be. It’s in our nature to make judgements based on how others look – it also happens in the animal kingdom where the weakest are picked out by lions and others for the best food opportunities, etc. We might think success has a certain look, but experience shows, it’s the person without the look who often gets things done.

Letters to Miss Baker – Jeremy Waxman

I was given a copy of Letters to Miss Baker: how one teacher kept in touch with former scholars of Kingsbury County School serving their country by Jeremy Waxman (2025) by a friend – they thought it a fascinating history and it certainly has been, as well as a labour of love.

Jeremy Waxman, a history teacher and previous headteacher of Kingsbury High School, discovered the letters former students had sent to a teacher, Miss Baker, during the Second World War. The book, Letters to Miss Baker contains snippets of the letters Miss Baker received from students and parents concerning their experiences in the war. 500 letters from over 200 students were received. All the students feature in varying degrees in the book.

While Kingsbury High School is in Brent, greater London, UK, there are links with Africa as men, previously students, had signed up with units that saw them sent to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) for pilot training, South Africa for training and stop-overs on route to another destination, Egypt for action and West Africa for service with West African units in Burma. Many of the men served in the RAF in various roles including mechanics, observation, gunners, telegraphy. A few were in the Navy. At least one of the women served in Egypt.

Numerous letters, or sections of letters, are transcribed giving detailed insight into the different aspects of service life which in itself is an invaluable source for social and cultural historians of conflict. Jeremy has also included numerous photographs and copies of documents to give the accounts a life simple text denies them. This is all a fitting testimony to a group of men and women who served their country in time of need. It’s also a testimony to the staff and others at Kingsbury, a school only set up in 1925 – on a plot of land previously used for airplane construction, who imbued their students with an ethos and values which saw many of them volunteer in the Second World War.

And while those who wrote in, died or received gallantry awards get the majority of attention, those who quietly did their bit with no known accolades are also remembered, as are those who in later years kept the letters from being destroyed. Nearly 100 years on we get what is effectively a community insight into a single event spanning seven plus years. It’s a little book worth reading.

For more about Jeremy Waxman, see his website https://jeremywaxman.co.uk/ with more on the book including the complete list of names and letters at https://jeremywaxman.co.uk/behind-the-letters

Our First Walk: Jan Smuts by HWA Cooper

Our First Walk: Jan Smuts by HWA Cooper is a short book containing reflection by Henry Cooper who became Jan Smuts’s Confidential Secretary from the Second World War to the end of Smuts’s life.

It tells of Smuts’s great love of walking and his attachment to nature. Some insights are given to prominent individuals and the love South Africans had for the Oubaas. There are snippets of information I don’t recall reading elsewhere. And others confirmed the impression I had of South Africa’s two-times prime minister.

Sadly, the book has been poorly edited. It took 20 years to get round to publishing Cooper’s reminisces of his time with Smuts – Cooper’s granddaughter could have taken a little more time to prepare the text and even have given a bit more information about her grandparent.

However, if you are a Smuts fan or interested in the behind-the-scenes of political life, this could be a book for you. I’ll be dipping into it for various bits in the future.

The value of society journals

A copy of the December 2025 (78:2) Society of Malawi Journal arrived through my letterbox in early 2026. The reason I got it was because of the review of Donald Arden’s memoirs – a book I helped edit and publish. Donald was a remarkable person as I alluded to earlier this year so I won’t say more here.

But what struck me holding the paper copy and going through the front pages of post holders and organisation history, is how much I use the old online copies of the Society Journals of Malawi (JSTOR), Northern Rhodesia (Google Books and website) and Uganda. The other day I was looking at the Nigeria Regiment Journal – another society of a kind.

These journals hold treasure troves of local information not often found in more academic journals or books. Not being fully academic does not mean poor quality – many articles are well researched and referenced. Some, like the Society of Malawi Journal, which are still in publication are peer-reviewed.

By nature, these journals tend not to discuss politics, rather focusing on history, science and related topics such as anthropology. Whilst the audience and contributors have been predominantly white, it has been this feature that has led to much of value being recorded as these newcomers shared their discoveries. The challenge is, and not only for the publications still in operation, to diversify and engage more local voices and interest. This latest edition of the Society of Malawi journal refreshingly tackles this issue through an article by John Lwanda, one of the editors. I say refreshingly as the article gives an historical overview as well as an analysis of the present situation supported by studies I had not before encountered and which I will be returning to for my own work on literature as memory (forthcoming anthology by GWAA). It asks the question – where to? given the state of publishing in Africa generally and the gaze of African academics to the global north.

With African aspirations focused so much on the global north, it is a challenge getting students interested in researching the past. Melvin Page considers this in his appreciation of Paul Tiyambe Zeleza who had been a student of his in the early 1970s. Both have delved into fiction writing on WW1 – Zeleza in a short story ‘The Soldier without an Ear’, and Page in a historical novel ‘Distinguished Conduct’. The interviews Page and Zeleza refer to were published as Chiwaya War Voices and Chiwaya War Echoes respectively by the Great War in Africa Association, as have other primary sources of the war edited by Melvin E. Page.

Returning to the reason I was sent a copy of the Society of Malawi Journal was the review and application of Donald Arden, Archbishop of Central Africa – in Donald’s memoir is an appendix giving an account of his uncle who was responsible for the Chauncey Maples ship arriving on Lake Nyasa. The Chauncey Maples was to see service in WW1.

I hit it lucky, as they say, with this journal and its WW1 links, it’s often a case of searching for a needle in the haystack to find what one is looking for in these journals but when found, they are absolute gems.

What we now need is to find ways to encourage the younger generations in Africa to engage with their past, record and publish it to ensure a representative coverage of the days gone by.