Book Review of Follow Me to Africa

A teenage girl follows her estranged father to Africa on an archeological dig. She doesn’t want to be there but begins to discover the beauty around her. Her connections with the dig’s leader and a cheetah will have her looking deep within herself and reconciling the past.

This is not a story you can speed through. The perspectives bounce from the young teenage girl in the 80s to the leader as a young woman in the 40s. That got confusing in the beginning as I tried to get familiar with the characters. Eventually, I moved in time quite easily.

Overall, I didn’t see this story as a plot driven one. It is character driven. Grace is a teenager with a big attitude due to the fact that her father abandoned her before her mother died. She’s in Africa where she doesn't want to be. The reader sees her internal struggles as she attempts to come to grips with her perspective of the past and the truth. During that time, she finds a connection with Mary who leads the dig. But Mary has her own past she has had to overcome and helps her connect with Grace.

The chapters that visit Mary’s past helps the reader see how much her own life is similar with Grace’s in the desire to be her own person yet still not sure of her heart’s desire. Africa calls to each of them for different paths but journeys that cross each other’s.