Welcome to Ian Mathie's website
“Wild Child – Growing Up a Nomad” is the long-awaited book about Ian’s early life and the beginning of his life-long love affair with Africa. It was written in response to questions from people wanting to know about his childhood and adventures growing up in different parts of the world during the final days of the British Empire.
It tells the story of the people, places and experiences that made him the person he was. Thanks to an amazing memory, he could recall the smallest details, even from his earliest years. He was born in Edinburgh, the second son of a Scottish officer and first went to Africa when his father was posted to Lusaka in 1951.
“Wild Child” takes the reader through Ian’s young life to the point where he returns to Africa as an adult to work. It follows his five earlier books in the Africa Memoirs series.
The Bookbag says: “Ian has come up with the missing link in his narrative, the story of a very unusual childhood (yes, the very years that made him the amazing man he became)... As always, it is beautifully written, with many exciting moments... It is a delight to read.”
Ian’s previous books about Africa were drawn from the notebooks he kept during thirty years living and working all over the continent. This startling series gives unique and intimate insights into aspects of life from little known and fast disappearing cultures.
Living cheek by jowl with the people in the villages whilst working as a water engineer, developing clean water supplies to rural communities, Ian had a close up view of often secretive aspects of tribal life and culture not generally on view to outsiders.
The African Memoir series:
Recommended as one of the Top Ten Autobiographies of 2014 by The Bookbag
"...simply the best of the relatively unknown writers".
Ian’s work has received praise from many quarters, including regular reviewers and other authors, and readers. One book has been used as the course book on a memoir writing course at an American university.
Tim Butcher, formerly Africa Bureau Chief of the Daily Telegraph and author of two books about Africa, Blood River and Chasing the Dragon, said about Bride Price: “A wonderfully evocative account of a lost time in Africa before political, genocidal maelstroms reframed the way the continent is perceived. Writing with great sensitivity and authenticity, Mathie enriches our understanding not just of the people but of the human spirit that thrives there.”
“This is narrative non-fiction at its best” is how best-selling Australian author Rosanne Dingli described Ian’s African Memoir series.
Sadly, Ian “joined the ancestors” in May 2017.
For more views on Ian's books please go to the Reviews Page.