Reading Matters (week 006) 03 February 2026

Author Tony Park, known for his thrillers set mainly in the SA bush, has also written non-fiction books and this time has trained his lens on the astounding life of Peter Whitehead Bwana, There’s a Body in the Bath (Rockhopper Books).  A horse trainer, Whitehead made for Africa where his adventures as a national parks ranger, and an animal wrangler, saw him working on movies including Born Free.

He escaped man-eating lions, killer hippos and crocodiles. He was an agricultural officer for the British government in north African countries before heading to SA and finally settling in New Zealand.

American Amy Griffin ran for decades on dirt roads, on New York Streets, wherever she could – running from horrific, haunting childhood memories of a teacher raping her regularly. Married, and four children later, she kept her abuse a secret until it began to impact her life. Her memoir, The Tell (Penguin Random House) is one of the best and most powerful memoirs I’ve yet read on surviving a devastating childhood.

William Boyd, described as Britain’s most beloved storyteller, has in this his 19^th novel, returned to his reluctant spy, Gabriel Dax, in The Predicament (Penguin). It’s part of a trilogy, the first being Gabriel’s Moon in which he’s recruited for M16 by tough, alluring Faith Green.

Now we see him sent to Guatemala, and then Berlin, where he helps foil an assassination attempt on John F Kennedy.

Reading Matters with Sue Grant-Marshall