Bertha, the Swiss Trader's Daughter: Love, War and Conspiracy in the Turbulent Past of Malawi - the little Jewel of Africa

by Eleni Trataris Cotton

The novel which is based on a true story, is the first of a trilogy and starts in 1915, just after the onset of World War 1, when Bertha Deuss, born of a Swiss father and an East African mother of colour, is ten years old. The opening scene is the Chilembwe uprising by the Africans against British rule in Nyasaland, now the narrative follows Bertha as she grows up.The story is told against the backdrop of a stunningly beautiful country, its history and the difficult issues of slavery, still being practised. Adventures abound - fleeing revolutionaries, being mauled by a rogue elephant, fighting floods in crocodile infested waters - because it was a wild and as yet untamed country where events could be, and often were, brutal. It is also the story of a family who faced catastrophic events, biting racism and terrible injustice in the deportation of their husband and father which nearly broke Bertha’s heart and forced her to question who she really was and where she belonged. When she emerged from the darkness it was with a determination forged in steel to find her niche and happiness in what was essentially a male-dominated and racist society. This is the story of the start of her journey.

342 pages, Paperback

Published October 7, 2021

About the author

Eleni Trataris Cotton is a Malawian-born author of Greek, Swiss and Mozambiquan ancestry, now living in Kent in the UK. She has written two books to date. Her first book was 'Straight from the Donkey's Mouth', an insider's view of riotous living on a Greek island and the upheaval caused by political and economic chaos. This was followed by 'Bertha, the Swiss Trader's Daughter', an adventure/historical novel which was inspired by a true story and is set in Malawi (then Nyasaland) at the beginning of the last century. This is the first of a trilogy.