The Governor's Lady: Norman Collins

Set in a British Colony in Central Africa in the 1930's, the characters include bachelor Harold Stebbs, the Governor's secretary; the Governor himself, Sir Gardner; Mr. Frith, the much-passed-over Acting Chief Secretary (and a too-familiar figure in the Milner Club bar); Tony Henley, ADC; Old Moses, the chief butler at the Residence; the socially irresponsible Mr Ngono; Mr Telfwa, militant left wing newspaper editor; and Mr Das, an itinerant legal counsel. Then there is the Governor's Lady - twenty years younger than her husband and already the subject of gossip in European, African and Asian circles. Norman Collins was an expert observer of people for his entire life, enabling him to write very rich and satisfying books - that probably were NOT all fiction.