Elspeth Huxley was, at various points in her life, a writer, a journalist, a broadcaster, a colonial officer, an environmentalist, and a government advisor. She is best known for her lyrical books The Flame Trees of Thika and The Mottled Lizard based on her experiences growing up in a coffee farm in Colonial Kenya. Making extensive use of her papers and letters, this biography also reveals a whole era of British colonial history.