“Under African Skies” is a story about a romance between an American woman and an African game driver 25 years her junior.

A game driver transports tourists on a safari to view wild animals.

The love story only lasts for two years.

Sharon “Shaz” Smith has had a lifelong fascination with Africa, which might be her actual love story.

She brings the continent to life in her two books:

“Under African Skies: An American Woman and an African Tribesman, Two Souls Come Together and a Past Life Emerges” (485 pages, Blue Heron Book Works, paperback $26, 2026)

“Africa: Up Close and Personal” (112 pages, Blue Heron Book Works, paperback $35, 2026).

Smith took the photographs in eight national parks. Most of the photos are of animals, from elephants to dung beetles, with a few landscapes and portraits of tribal people. All show an amazing range of bright colors.

Smith’s Allentown home is filled with objects from her world travels. There are statues of shamans and a snake sculpture, ceremonial masks, and colorfully-patterned teak bowls that she buys whenever she visits Victoria Falls, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Southern Africa.

Smith has made more than 20 trips to Africa.

“When I am there it feels more like home than my home here. I try to go back as often as I can,” she says.

Smith has a close relationship with a family she visits when she returns. “They are like my own family,” she says.

Three years ago, when she was 65-years-old, she had an unexpected encounter as she got off the plane with a tour group and saw their handsome game driver named Booker.

“When I saw him it hit me like a lightning bolt. That never happened to me before. I am single and have never been married. It was magical.”

She came to think that she might have known him in a previous life.

“I wrote the book in six months, based on 700 pages of text messages I downloaded.” The messages began on the trip and continued after she returned home.

At first, she was ecstatic. “My friends said I was glowing when I came back.”

She thought about moving to the continent, living with Booker and his daughter. “I had a vision that this is how I will live in Africa. I wanted to make it happen.”

However, she began to discover things about the man she fell in love with. After some rationalizing and increasing evasiveness from Booker, she knew that the relationship could not last.

“There were too many differences. It was probably doomed from the start. Besides the age and race difference, there was the ego problem of the man not making as much money as the woman.

“The book was easy but emotional to write. It was cathartic. There were lots of ups and downs, with great love and great hatred. Parts of me still love him.

“It didn’t work out, but I have no regrets. I would do it again. Not too many women in my age group would take that route.

“But you can’t let life pass you by. It only comes around one time. So why not do the things you love? Life is full of adventure.”

The book gives glimpses of what it is like to live in Africa.

“There is a lot of poverty and unemployment. They appreciate so many things that we take for granted, like fresh water. It makes me wonder, ‘Why do we need so much stuff?’”

Smith was born and raised in Northampton. She worked in the advertising department of The Morning Call newspaper from 1977 to 1994.

After that, Smith, who is retired, she did sales and account management and was an executive for business startups.

“My goal is to make three trips a year, two to Africa and one somewhere else.” She even hopes to visit Antarctica someday.

“Literary Scene” is a column about authors, books and publishing. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com