“Although I’ve been writing for many years “The Valley of the Shadow” is my debut novel. Its gestation period was long and painful. The subject matter is very close to my heart. I know it’s a cliché but Africa is an enigma. My first experience of the continent was as a junior naval officer arriving at the port of Massawa in what was then Ethiopia but is now Eritrea. It was a good introduction: Marxist revolution, war of liberation, famine and drought all in full swing – simultaneously. But my abiding memory was the resilience of ordinary people! A long time later and after much involvement in African liberation politics I went to live in post war Zimbabwe. I witnessed as tribalism over took racism as the dominant social force and saw the brutal repercussions. I got to know many of those involved from former Rhodesian SAS soldiers, African Guerrilla fighters, white commercial farmers, African subsistence farmers and even some of the senior political players. The Valley of the Shadow is my attempt to give a ‘personal flavour’ to some of the characters and show how they were affected by real events and global politics. You have to be the judge if I succeeded.”