H Ann Ackroyd

Colonial Adventure & Other Stories: Graphic Novella and Short Stories in Rhythmic Prose H Ann Ackroyd

Colonial Adventure is a graphic novella written in rhythmic prose depicting a slice of British colonial history (1936?1977) as experienced by individuals on both sides of the racial conflict. It begins with a British couple who leave the sophistication of London to establish a large agricultural operation in what was then Southern Rhodesia, later Rhodesia and now Zimbabwe. With the rise of Black Nationalism, the black majority rebels leading to a brutal civil war that has a severe impact on the two families, one black and one white, whose lives the story follows. Of the shorter stories, also written in rhythmic prose, one concerns a female architect from Haiti, another a young boy abandoned at a country fair by his mother and a third addresses an over-reaction in the climate of fear surrounding Islam. The fourth story portrays an outrage committed against a teenager seeking to free herself from family domination, while the last tale is a dramatic monologue conducted by an African dictator.