Why a Booktrail?
1830s: Based on real events. What happens when a Scot becomes the Governor of Cape Coast? What happens to his English born wife? Who knows the truth?
Local Customs
What you need to know before your trail
Based on historical facts which took place in the 1830s, and a very interesting look into the very different style of life in the early 1800’s in the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
It is the story of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, a popular English poet and novelist of that time, better known by her initials L.E.L. She caused a scandal as she lived alone, was estranged from her mother and was still single at the age of 36. So when she met the governor of Cape Coast Castle, Captain George MacLean, she thought her life was changing for the better.
Only a few months after leaving for Ghana, she was dead and she speaks here from beyond the grave ..what on earth happened?
There is a lot more to it than meets the eye.
Travel Guide
George Maclean, was born in 1801 in Banffshire, Scotland and was the council president of Cape Coast, West Africa, who laid the groundwork for British rule of the Gold Coast.
But what really happened to LEL in this exotic and dangerous place so far away from her home?
Local customs refers to the changes and new experiences that westerners in particular must get used to in order to settle in the new country and to do their jobs. We are introduced to Fante – the local language and the tradition of washing pregnant women in the river – things that seem strange and new to Letty at first. The heat and the humidity however, she learns to cope with, despite the fact that most visitors there find this the hardest thing to bear.
The setting of this book was of course a large part of the attraction for The Book Trail and it doesn’t disappoint.
The two principal streets are very wide and lined with umbrella trees.
Chickens and children wander freely, women walk to and fro with babies trapped to their backs; men sit under a huge silk-cotton tree, talking and playing a game they call Oware
And of course the weather –
The rainy season was supposed to be ending, but one afternoon the skies opened and a torrent of rain descended; I had never seen anything like it. It was biblical the sort of rain poor Mr and Mrs Noah must have experiences as they floated away with their menagerie in the ark.
On another book trail note, Letty mentions that her favourite book as a girl was Robinson Crusoe and she explains how she thought he was clever and brave to be trapped on a desert island. She though this might be fun – having to create everything from scratch. Her innocence is coupled with a funny anecdote of how Friday may have got his name. This level of detail enriched the story and added a unique flavour to Letty’s thoughts.
Where Next?
