National Network for Equitable Library Service

"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 archaeological dig at Olduvai Gorge on the Serengeti plains of Tanzania. There, seventy-year-old Mary Leakey enlists Grace to sort and pack her fifty years of work and memories. Their interaction reminds Mary of her own youth in the 1930s, pursuing archaeology by sneaking into lectures and working on excavations. Commissioned by Louis Leakey to illustrate a book, Mary unexpectedly falls in love with the older married man and follows him to East Africa, where she finds purpose and scientific recognition at Olduvai Gorge. As Mary and Grace bond, they discover shared traits and a mutual love for animals—deepened when they work together to save an injured cheetah named Lisa. On the morning Grace is set to leave, both she and the cheetah have vanished, launching a race against time to save Grace before the African bush claims her. From the acclaimed author of The Invincible Miss Cust and The Woman at Wheel, this is a tale that explores the consequences of our choices, the wisdom found in reflection, and the relationships that shape us—all inspired by the extraordinary life of Mary Leakey.