The Year of the Ghost: An Olduvai Diary

The 'ghost' of this book is Derek Roe himself. In January 1983 he embarked on his first journey to Tanzania as a ghost writer for an autobiography for Mary Leakey, a name linked for ever in the minds of archaeologists with the famous palaeolithic site of Olduvai Gorge. This diary covers Derek Roe's three trips to visit Mary and also includes correspondence between them both before and after 1983, as well as snippets from their earlier meetings. It is an honest, at times intimate and frank record of the ups and downs of their relationship, of Mary's work in Africa, of the site of Olduvai Gorge and the impact that the discoveries made there have had on the archaeological world. The finished autobiography, drafted by Derek, but much altered before publication, was published in 1984 as Disclosing the Past ; it is now out of print, but this personal account of its creation is a story in its own right.