Dancing with the Dead - A Journey Through Zanzibar and Madagascar

Helena Drysdale was just about to leave for Madagascar when family papers in a crumbling house in Devon revealed that her ancestors had traded there during the nineteenth century. Madagascar was not their only haunt: there was also Zanzibar and the Comoro Islands. Helena and her photographer husband, Richard Pomeroy, set off to follow in their wake and seek out any lingering family connections. On dhows, cargo boats, dug-out canoes, in lorries and on foot, their journey took them from old colonial Mombassa to the winding alleys of Zanzibar, from Moslem ceremonies in the Comoro Islands to ancestor-worship in Madagascar and annual exhumations of the dead. Dancing with the Dead is intensely romantic and utterly delightful. Helena Drysdale writes with a freshness and vigour which make every page of this unusual and engaging travel book sparkle with pleasure.