The White Rhino Hotel

this is such a fantastic book. I read it originally from a copy I borrowed from a friend, and decided it was definately worth owning. A little racy (for young readers), but a fantastic story and very geographically accurate. Enjoy the adventure!

Super mix of action and adventure in Africa. Bull can write like the wind. Really flows well from action to dialogue. I like all his stuff. Check out Devil's Oasis!

For the reader who gets lost in the beauty of Out of Africa, enjoys the adventure yarns of a Wilbur Smith and who yearns for a plot-drven page-turner, this is the rollicking good read. Peopled with compelling characters: Anton Rider, a gypsy boy who jumps ship in Dar es Salaam; Gwenn Llewelyn, a Welsh wife who travels to Kenya to meet her war-separated, badly wounded husband; Adam Penfold, an oh-so languid, but kindly English upper cruster captivated by Africa; and, Olivio Fonseca Alavedo, an evil-looking, always plotting, Goan dwarf. Mix these with some truly evil Europeans and a number of kindly natives (badly sterotyped, I'm afraid) and you'll find yourself engrossed in an old-fahioned adventure. This is the first of three (with surely more to come) in a series.

The White Rhino Hotel is the prequel to the famous Café on the Nile and does a nice job of explaining the origins of the main characters, Anton Rider, the gypsy boy out for adventure in British Africa, Gwen Llewellyn, his wife to be, Ernst von Decken, a true German, who is as straight and honest as any man can be but cannot live with the burden of having lost the Great War, and Olivio Alavedo, the mysterious Goan dwarf who will make a great fortune through his business and people skills, which make up for his physical shortcoming. With these characters, we are transplanted into an exciting age, right after the end of World War I, and follow the changes in the world as well as in the personal lives of our heroes. We experience love and safari adventures, intrigues and international tensions. As Anton Rider sets out for Kenya to escape the class society of his homeland he encounters Gwen Llewellyn, a young army nurse, on the way to meet her wounded husband and start a new future in Africa. When Gwen's husband dies, Anton and his acquaintance, Lord Penfold help Gwen build up her farm and care for her son, Wellington. Olivio Alavedo and Ernst von Decken help the young couple establish themselves in the harsh African wilderness and we see the start of a life-long bond between these peculiar yet friendly characters. If you enjoy historical and geographical adventure stories with a flair of British-colonialism you are in for a great read. My favorite part of the book was definitely the friendship between Anton Rider and Ernst von Decken, a relationship that consists mostly of admiration and respect, and is composed of an unlikely match as the English Rider faces prejudices from the German von Decken but finds him extremely amicable and truly desires to learn from his wisdom. Together they survive adventures and built a life-long friendship, which builds up in the following two books and symbolizes the hope for international peace and communication amongst people. My least favorite part of the book was in the beginning, when Gwen, who was on the way to Africa to meet her husband is raped by a drunk Irishman and has to live with the horrible reality of not being able to tell her husband, who has become infertile due to a war injury, that she is carrying somebody else's baby. I thought that this part of the plot was too violent, and contradicted the otherwise romantic/adventurous mood of the rest of the book. I do acknowledge, however, that the violence may have been effective in showing that not everything went smooth in overseas travel in those days and that Africa was a dangerous place to be. Finally, I would like to recommend this book to everyone, regardless of age or nationality, as it picks up on historical facts and builds a dramatic and romantic adventure story, full with characters which you will surely close into your heart. The book transforms you into a different time and is exciting as it lets you participate in the glorious days of

A thrilling mixture of adventure, romance and history. Set in East Africa in 1920, a remarkable collection of characters plunge us into the Africa of the time- with all the sights and sounds and smells that bring it to life. The people are even more intriguing than the animals, and this sexy historical adventure makes you feel you are there. I learned a lot and can't wait for the next one.