Ruben Olivier leads an isolated existence in a Cape Town suburb. His wife has died, one of his sons has settled in Australia, and the other wants to emigrate to Canada. The only constants in Ruben's life are the old family home, the ghost of a seventeenth-century slave girl who haunts it, and Magrieta, the elderly housekeeper who comes in to look after him. When Ruben's neighbor and best friend is brutally murdered by marauding gangs, the subtle yet pervasive threat of violence hovering over life in Cape Town becomes frighteningly real.
All agree that taking in a boarder might be a good idea, and Ruben is pleasantly surprised when young Tessa Butler walks in out of the rain one Saturday night. She restores passion and intrigue to his life, but he has little time to enjoy the infatuation, for soon Ruben finds himself in a web of deceptions, manipulations, disappearances, and lies.
This extraordinary novel is at once a rich story of enigmatic characters and a boldly disquieting meditation on the attempt to build a future of hope and promise from the legacy of the past.
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From the Inside Flap:
Ruben Oliver's life is coming adrift from its moorings. He has been forced to take early retirement from his job as a librarian and adjust to the new political realities of South Africa. His wife has died. One of his sons has settled in Australia, the other is about to emigrate to Canada. His best friend and neighbour, Johnny MacFarlane, has been brutally murdered. The only constants are his old family home in the suburbs of Cape Town, haunted by the ghost of a young slave woman; and his housekeeper, Magrieta, with whom he has a shared history that goes back more than half his life. The beautiful Tessa Butler comes out of the rain one night in response to an ad for a lodger. Ruben is captivated by her. She restores passion to his life, but brings with her a turbulent past and a complex love life as well as demons from the world outside his home.
About the Author:
André Brink was born in Vrede, Free State, South Africa, in 1935. Brink is a three-time recipient of South Africa's CNA Award, and he has been short-listed twice for the Booker Prize. He is a professor of English at the University of Cape Town.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherHarcourt
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 0151006547
- ISBN 13 9780151006540
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages320
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