TWENTY CHICKENS FOR A SADDLE By Robyn Scott
Bloomsbury, $37.99
When Robyn Scott was 6, her family moved from New Zealand to Botswana and found themselves living in a converted cowshed in the bush. Her free-spirited parents gave their three children total freedom to explore their surroundings without parentalinterference.
Robyn loved horses and when she lamented the shabbiness of her saddle her frugal parents couldn't see why she wanted a new one. They bought her 20 former battery hens and suggested she let them roam free to be sold later as free-range. With that money she could buy a new saddle.
Scott's parents were utterly non-conformist, and determined to make their children independent and responsible, so different from their conventional expat neighbours. Scott beautifully evokes the gentle country she fell in love with.
The charm of Botswana has been written about in Alexander McCall Smith's popular detective series. With this, the magic continues.
