A journalist born in Kenya, Hartley weaves contemporary events, family history and experiences in the region in this meditative, personal elegy to colonialism in Africa. As Africa correspondent for Reuters in the 1990s, Hartley covered Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda and the Congo. He takes as his point of departure for the book a handwritten memoir by Peter Davey, found in the family chest of the title.  (EAF119, $16.00)