Lady Barker invites children to settle by the fireside for a series of lively, personal tales drawn from her life in India and the West Indies. With warmth, wit, and a sharp eye for colonial manners, she turns monkeys, family journeys, and ceremonial encounters into vivid adventures that are as funny as they are unsettling. Her stories move from pet mischief to wild danger, from domestic comedy to the hazards of tropical travel, always with a storyteller's affection for the people and animals she describes. She recounts trying to keep a pet monkey named Bobby in India, only to discover that charm can quickly become chaos when a wild creature scratches, bites, and must be sent away. Another tiny monkey, dearly loved aboard ship, is lost after a brutal confrontation with a larger crew monkey, while Joey—black, fearless, and impossible to discipline—fills a household with stolen objects, broken china, and absurd antics. Yet the wild monkeys of Simla are far more dangerous, raiding a dinner party and attacking the terrier Fury. The memoir also ranges to Jamaica, where escaped monkeys terrorize a governor's household, and to the author's own childhood amid tropical heat, mountain roads, and imperial pageantry, including a ceremonial visit from the Nawab of Rampore. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.