Beyond the Malachite Hills, by Jonathan Lawley; Last Man In, by John Hare – review

In post when the curtain came down on Britain’s African empire, there survives today a generation of colonial officers whose numbers are dwindling fast. Many were fired by an idealism already out of fashion when they chose their career. Most came to love their adopted continent. Some can write. Two of these are Jonathan Lawley and John Hare. Each has an incredible tale to tell. Here is a pair of books that, placed with a decanter of whisky on the bedside table of any Spectator reader’s guest bedroom, will have the reading-light burning late into the night.

Yet they are very different stories, quite differently written. Beyond the Malachite Hills is a businesslike account of the last days of colonial government in Northern Rhodesia, and the first years of African self-government in its successor state, Zambia.

Here Jonathan Lawley was asked to stay on as a colonial officer (and African linguist) in the wild and beautiful country above the Zambezi river.