Follow Me to Africa

A Novel

By: Penny Haw

Narrated by: Amy Scanlon

"A warm tale of identity and growth … as layered as the real ancient humanity inspiring its core."—Elizabeth Wein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity

Historical fiction inspired by the story of groundbreaking paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey, FOLLOW ME TO AFRICA is a sweeping, dual-timeline story of intergenerational friendship, a meditation on the beauty of the natural world, and a celebration of the women who pave the way for those to come.

It's 1983 and seventeen-year-old Grace Clark has just lost her mother when she begrudgingly accompanies her estranged father to an archeological dig at Olduvai Gorge on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania. Here, seventy-year-old Mary Leakey enlists Grace to sort and pack her fifty years of work and memories.

Their interaction reminds Mary how she pursued her ambitions of becoming an archeologist in the 1930s by sneaking into lectures and working on excavations. When well-known paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey commissions her to illustrate a book, she's not at all expecting to fall in love with the older married man. Mary then follows Louis to East Africa, where she falls in love for a second time, this time with the Olduvai Gorge, where her work defines her as a great scientist and allows her to step out of Louis's shadow.

In time, Mary and Grace learn they are more alike than they thought, which eventually leads them to the secret that connects them. They also discover a mutual deep love for animals, and when Lisa, an injured cheetah, appears at camp, Mary and Grace work together to save her. On the morning Grace is due to leave, the girl—and the cheetah—are nowhere to be found, and it becomes a race against time to rescue Grace before the African bush claims her.

From the acclaimed author of The Invincible Miss Cust and The Woman at Wheel comes an adventurous, dual timeline tale that explores the consequences of our choices, wisdom that comes with retrospection, and relationships that make us who we are, based on the extraordinary real life of Mary Leakey.

©2025 Penny Haw (P)2025 Recorded Books

A little boring.

The narration and the voices are excellent, but it was a little bit predictable. I lived in Africa for five years, but so I was hoping for a bit more enrichment. I did enjoy learning a little bit more about Mary Leaky.

Enthralling

I was utterly transported. One of my favorite books of the year—it made me feel like I was right there I. Africa, something I didn’t really know I wanted to feel. I so loved learning of Mary Leaky’s story, both I. The beginning and in her later life. I loved learning of her animals, her finds, her struggles, her successes. And I was swept up in the struggles of the young girl like her who is catapulted into the amazing Serengeti. Wow. This is Haw’s best yet. Not to miss.

Grace's revelation and Mary's tenacity

I loved this story. How Mary never gave up on her dream. And how her curiousity and passion drove her to get where she wanted to be. she never let anyone's opinion change her pathway to success.
and Grace's revelation of what was holding her back and discovering her passion was inspiring.

Narrator

This narrator should do her homework and learn how to pronounce Olduvai, Kikuyu, ngorongoro. Her accents as the different characters are pretentious. And local East Africans do not speak with a Cockney accent! Her reading spoiled the story.

DNF

I just could not get into this book for some reason?? I didn’t connect with the characters and I felt like it was a little slow going.