In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree

Author(s): Catharine Withenay

Location(s): Zambia (Northern Rhodesia)

Genre(s): Autobiography/Memoirs

Era(s): early 21st century

Organising her husband, toddler and babe in arms, three suitcases, two rucksacks, a pram and a travel cot onto a plane ready for a new life in Zambia is complicated enough. Given Catharine’s fear of malaria and tropical diseases and the anxieties of moving beyond the reach of friends and family, she wonders how she was persuaded to move at all. Then, just as they approach the airport, it appears that they don’t have their passports.

In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree is a heartwarming and thought provoking take about Catharine Withenay’s first year living abroad as an expatriate wife. She chronicles her family’s adventures as they settle into a new culture far from home. Nothing is as simple as it should be, from buying furniture to getting a haircut. As she copes with motherhood and the injustices of poverty and healthcare in Zambia she wonders: could she ever come to call this place home?

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