BEYOND MOMBASA tells the unforgettable story of Ronald and Florence Preston, the pioneering Victorian - era couple who, with the help of 1000 mutinous coolies, not to mention all manner of beasts, attempted the seemingly impossible - building a railway line from exotic Mombasa on the east coast all the way to Lake Victoria, deep in Africa's dark and wild heart. In an era when the French were threatening the British stronghold over Africa, this intrepid couple defy the odds in their quest to accomplish the greatest engineering feat the world has ever seen. But to achieve their goal they must overcome innumerable challenges: inhospitable terrain, floods, droughts, illness, man - eating lions, political pressures, warring tribesmen, traitors from within, not to mention the huge personal strain put on their marriage ... BEYOND MOMBASA takes the reader on a heart - stopping adventure across Africa - a land full of danger and colour, a land which has since the dawn of time resisted the white man's scourge, and a land where man is pitted against not only nature, but against himself.