Author(s): Barbara & Stephanie Keating

Fiction

East Africa, 1957. On the eve of Kenyan independence and the closing days of British colonial rule, three convent girls make a pact never to part; to become "blood sisters". But it will prove a difficult oath to uphold, and the tension mounts early on. Coming from different backgrounds, the girl's parents hold very different views on the changing Kenya. Hannah's parents stand to lose their farm when the land is redistributed, Camilla's father, a senior diplomat in the government, could intervene, but won't. When the girls leave school they set out on three diverse paths: Camilla pursues a modelling career in swinging London; Sarah quietly continues her studies in ancestral Ireland; Hannah is stuck on a tobacco plantation in Rhodesia with her alcoholic father. Separated by great distance and disparate lifestyles, matters for the girls are made worse by conflicting love interests. Early on, both Camilla and Sarah start to fight for the affections of Hannah's handsome brother, Piet, to say nothing of the dashing Anthony Chapman, big game hunter. All Their Songs and Sins is a roller-coaster of a novel, with all the ingredients of a thumping good romance: heartache, jealous rivalry and tragedy, with exotic locations to match; from smoky London clubs littered with amorous photographers to the beauty of the African bush tainted by political unrest and brutal killings.