Of Sidearms and Dinner Jackets

When Englishman Michael Hood receives an invitation to visit his old school friend’s substantial farming estate in the colony of Equatoria, British East Africa, at the start of 1960, he can hardly imagine the beauty and allure of the region he will come to know during repeated lengthy stays, nor the excitement, drama and tragedy which will mark his visits. And when he first disembarks at Port Hardinge, Equatoria’s main port, he cannot guess that he is about to meet and fall in love with a beautiful settler’s daughter named Marjory. As insurrection, violence, and ultimately, destruction, are played out against the striking equatorial African scenery, Michael’s love for Marjory grows ever deeper, and in time they realise a dream they come to share, of owning and managing a private game reserve in a region of Africa as yet untouched by violence and destruction.

Robert Dewar was born in East Africa in the mid 1950s, and was educated in South Africa. He has a degree in History, and as a young man he worked as a field guide in Southern Africa, and as a game ranger. In later years he worked as a business researcher and writer. He has lived in East Africa, South Africa, Namibia, the United Kingdom, Malta, and the Far East. He now lives in the Scottish Highlands. Of Sidearms and Dinner Jackets is Robert’s third novel.