Karina

Follow Me to Africa by Penny Haw

The new novel by Penny Haw, Follow Me to Africa, has been published by Sourcebooks in the US this month. Follow Penny on social media to find out about events taking place around the novel that unearths the fascinating life of Mary Leakey:

pennyhaw.com

“A warm tale of identity and growth … as layered as the real ancient humanity inspiring its core.” — Elizabeth Wein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity

Historical fiction inspired by the story of groundbreaking paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey, FOLLOW ME TO AFRICA is a sweeping, dual-timeline story of intergenerational friendship, a meditation on the beauty of the natural world, and a celebration of the women who pave the way for those to come.

It’s 1983 and seventeen-year-old Grace Clark has just lost her mother when she begrudgingly accompanies her estranged father to an archeological dig at Olduvai Gorge on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania. Here, seventy-year-old Mary Leakey enlists Grace to sort and pack her fifty years of work and memories.

Their interaction reminds Mary how she pursued her ambitions of becoming an archeologist in the 1930s by sneaking into lectures and working on excavations. When well-known paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey commissions her to illustrate a book, she’s not at all expecting to fall in love with the older married man. Mary then follows Louis to East Africa, where she falls in love for a second time, this time with the Olduvai Gorge, where her work defines her as a great scientist and allows her to step out of Louis’s shadow.

In time, Mary and Grace learn they are more alike than they thought, which eventually leads them to the secret that connects them. They also discover a mutual deep love for animals, and when Lisa, an injured cheetah, appears at camp, Mary and Grace work together to save her. On the morning Grace is due to leave, the girl—and the cheetah—are nowhere to be found, and it becomes a race against time to rescue Grace before the African bush claims her.

From the acclaimed author of The Invincible Miss Cust and The Woman at Wheel comes an adventurous, dual timeline tale that explores the consequences of our choices, wisdom that comes with retrospection, and relationships that make us who we are, based on the extraordinary real life of Mary Leakey.

Karina

Penny Haw: Winner of the Philida Literary Award in 2024

Today, on the ninth anniversary of André Brink’s death, we pay tribute to his life and work and announce that the Philida Literary Award, established in his memory in 2020, goes to Penny Haw and is awarded to her for an oeuvre of literary excellence.

Penny Haw

Penny Haw worked as a journalist and columnist for more than three decades, writing for many leading South African newspapers and magazines before yielding to a lifelong yearning to create fiction. Her stories feature remarkable women, illustrate her love for nature, and explore the interconnectedness of all living things. Her first title, Nicko: The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm, was a children’s book and was published in 2017. Her first novel for adults, The Wilderness Between Us, was published by Köehler Books in the US in 2021. A year later, she published The Invincible Miss Cust, her debut historical fiction, which she followed with another historical novel, The Woman at the Wheel, in 2023 (both published in the US by Sourcebooks). She lives near Cape Town with her husband and three dogs, all of whom are well-walked.

Penny Haw on accepting the Philida Literary Award: “I am in tears! Thank you. This is such an honour and I’m finding it difficult to express myself. Gobsmacked. Grateful. Overwhelmed. It means so, so much to me and I feel so privileged to accept it. Oh wow! André taught me Afrikaans in my first year of university at Rhodes (1982). It was a life-changing year for me. One of the bright spots was being taught by him. I wish I had had the chance to tell him that. Somehow this award closes a circle for me. Thank you.”

2017 Nicko: The Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm

2021 The Wilderness Between Us

2022 The Invincible Miss Cust

2023 The Woman at the Wheel

Congratulations, Penny!