Books by Ian Mathie

Ian Mathie's early life in Scotland and Africa prepared him for the extraordinary life that he vividly describes in his critically acclaimed African Memoir series. In Wild Child, he writes with insight, humour and love about the people, wild places and strange experiences that sustained him through the difficult years and made him who he was.

Chinese Take-out spins a web of tense international intrigue - spies, exploitation, high finance, illegal movement of nuclear materials through sham companies - against the backdrop of a growing undercurrent in the Chinese democracy movement which periodically erupts with interesting consequences.

Sorcery is a fact of life in many African societies; the supernatural is taken for granted. In SORCERERS AND ORANGE PEEL, author Ian Mathie describes how this other dimension plays a role - somethings amusing, sometimes frightening, always intriguing - in everyday life in remote West Africa.

A gripping memoir of the 1974 humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, Dust of the Danakil is a true story of an ill-conceived project run by the author in the violent, drought-stricken Danakil region. He discovered a hostile environment - in more ways than one - that almost cost him his life.

In volatile 1970s West Africa, Ian Mathie's work brought him in contact with a succession of extraordinary people, including presidents Mobuto of Zaire, Traore of Mali, Senghor of Senegal and Eyadema of Togo. They left him with insights into a fascinating continent at a fascinating time of history.

The culture shock experienced by a London-based government investigator when he travels to Africa only deepens when he is hit by tropical fever, mysterious forces and the ramifications of corruption at high level. His gradual coming to terms with Africa opens a window on the reality of rural life in Central Africa in the 1970s.

When a powerful and feared man demands a 'bride price' for the young girl he fosters, the author is forced to rely on his wits and courage to find a way within the rich traditions and superstitions of rural Zaire to set a fair price that the man would refuse to pay.