# Red Strangers > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Red_Strangers > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Red_Strangers.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Strangers > Source revision: 1197255025 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1939 novel by Elspeth Huxley Red Strangers First edition Author Elspeth Huxley Language English Genre Historical novel Publisher Chatto and Windus (London) Publication date 1939 Publication place United Kingdom Media type Print Pages 406 pp OCLC 156758919 ***Red Strangers*** is a 1939 [novel](/source/Novel) by [Elspeth Huxley](/source/Elspeth_Huxley).[1] The story is an account of the arrival of [European settlers](/source/White_Kenyans) to [colonial Kenya](/source/Kenya_Colony) told through the eyes of four generations of [Kikuyu tribesmen](/source/Kikuyu_people) in [Kenya](/source/Kenya). ## Description The book immerses the reader so completely in the pre-[Western](/source/Western_culture) [Kikuyu](/source/Kikuyu_people) culture, that when the Kikuyu are paid money for their labour, it is quite easy to understand why they throw the coins into the bushes. After all, what does money do? Epic in its scale, *Red Strangers* spans four generations of a Kikuyu family in Africa and its relationship with European settlers, nicknamed "red" strangers for their [sunburns](/source/Sunburn).[1] The book describes a Kenyan tribe and its way of life, with its rituals, its beliefs, its codes and its morality, and shows European customs in stark, unflattering contrast with Kikuyu traditions. The differences in cultural attitudes to war, methods of cultivation, the administering of justice, and the use of money are played out in the semi-fictional view of colonial rule in Kenya.[1] ## Editions The book was out of print for quite some time, but the British [biologist](/source/Biologist) [Richard Dawkins](/source/Richard_Dawkins) wrote an article of appreciation for the novel in the *[Financial Times](/source/Financial_Times)* in 1998 that challenged "any reputable publisher to bring out a copy of their own."[2] [Penguin Books](/source/Penguin_Books) published the novel in February 1999, with Dawkins's article as the [foreword](/source/Foreword),[1] followed by a paperback in May 2006.[1] His article was reprinted in *[A Devil's Chaplain](/source/A_Devil's_Chaplain)* (2003).[3] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-LThing_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-LThing_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-LThing_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-LThing_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-LThing_1-4) "Red strangers a novel", LibraryThing, 2007, webpage: [LibraryThing-38](http://www.librarything.com/work/473138). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Financial Times, 1998-05-09, *Out Of The Soul Of Africa*, Dawkins, R. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Richard Dawkins](/source/Richard_Dawkins), *[The Devil's Chaplain: Selected Essays](/source/The_Devil's_Chaplain%3A_Selected_Essays)*, Phoenix, 2003 ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7538-1750-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7538-1750-6)). [Portals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals): - [Books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Books) - [Kenya](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Kenya) Authority control databases Open Library This article about a historical novel of the 1930s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:1930s-hist-novel-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3A1930s-hist-novel-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:1930s-hist-novel-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Red Strangers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Strangers) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Strangers?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.