Skinner's Drift
-
- 8,99 €
-
- 8,99 €
Descrizione dell’editore
Lisa Fugard's Skinner's Drift is a beautifully written début that reveals the secrets and violence buried beneath the earth of a South African farm.
Skinner's Drift, lying amongst the sandstone rocks of the eastern borders of South Africa, beside the snaking bed of the Limpopo River, was Eva Van Rensburg's home. As a young girl she would range through its mopane trees at night, hunting jackals with her stammering father. But as soon as she grew up, Eva fled the farm and has not returned for more than ten years. Now, as her father lies dying in hospital with only his claustrophobic sister for company, Eva must go back to confront her family and remember the beauty, and the horror, of her life on Skinner's Drift.
Praise for Skinner's Drift:
'A wonderfully brave novel - unflinchingly and lovingly written. It is books like this - books that shake the dust out of our heads and hearts - that allow us all to understand our past slightly better and walk forward more confidently' Alexandra Fuller
'An achingly beautiful book' Monica Ali
'Fugard wonderfully captures the swift rivers of change in which contempt and fear, resentment, righteousness and loyalty churn in one unending torrent' Daily Mail
Lisa Fugard grew up in South Africa and now lives in the desert of Southern California with her husband and young son. Her short stories have been published in magazines and literary journals and she has written many travel pieces for the New York Times. Skinner's Drift is her first novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A vivid sense of place and an effective dramatic arc distinguish this debut novel from the daughter of South African playwright Athol Fugard. After a 10-year absence which saw the upheaval of her native country 28-year-old Eva van Rensburg returns to Johannesburg from the U.S. to tend to her estranged, dying Afrikaner father, Martin. Springboarding off Eva's discovery of her deceased mother Lorraine's diaries, Fugard seamlessly flashes back to explore Eva's childhood on Skinner's Drift, the farm where she grew up. The characters and landscape come sharply to life: Lorraine's dissatisfaction, Martin's struggles to keep the farm afloat, the increased tensions as soldiers arrive and barricades are erected along the border with Botswana. At the heart of the story is young Eva and her relations with the black farmworkers. As Martin's violent tendencies intensify and Lorraine becomes increasingly unstable, the family fractures and Eva bears the brunt of Martin's actions culminating in two horrifying, violent acts. When the adult Eva finally returns to the farm, she must determine how to finally face her father's terrible secret. Playing out this family drama in the broader context of race and class, Fugard captivates with this searing personal portrayal of the legacy of apartheid.
