This is my second book by Matthee, a sadly little-known South African writer who specialized in books about the area around the Knysna Forest, an area along the South African coast between the Eastern and Western Cape provinces. My first book was Circles in a Forest, an impressive work about the extermination of the Knysna elephants and the exploitation of woodcutters living in isolated interior villages. Its success led to two other "Forest Novels," the middle work of which is this book. Matthee is expert at depicting lives and small communities and absolutely riveting universes spanning not only the people but their relationship to the entire ecosystem of the forest—trees and plants, animals, flowers, bird life, and more. I have never read a writer more successful at integrating people with their surroundings. Fiela is a black woman who raised a white boy within her family and one day has to contend with the government who wants to identify the child and return him to his birth family. The story paints, in heartbreaking depth, the lives of Fiela and her family as well as the lives of the poverty-stricken Dutch-descended woodcutters whose child the boy is claimed to be. ( )

A very enjoyable read that occasionally veered to far in the direction of sentimental, and on other occasions in the direction of over-drama. I'm glad to have read it though because it gave me a rich and complicated picture of rural South African culture under apartheid. ( )

Mijn boekenring voor dit boek.

Eindelijk heb ik dit dan zelf gelezen.
Net als de anderen moest ik er even inkomen, maar eigenlijk viel het me goed mee hoeveel ik van het Afrikaans begreep. En het bleek een prachtig boek te zijn. De voor mij vreemde taal kostte me wat meer inspanning, maar leverde ook iets op: een verdieping van de beleving.
Fiela is een prachtige, krachtige figuur; eigenlijk is ze veel scherper getekend dan het karakter van Benjamin. Maar ja, die is ook nog zo jong.

Een mooi boek, dat ik niet gauw zal vergeten. ( )

Interesting to see how well I'll read Afrikaans...

I've not read many pages yet, but I must admit that reading Afrikaans is harder than I thought. I might even cheat and find the Dutch version somewhere (library perhaps?)

My hrad was too full with other things to be able to pay good attention to this book. The Afrikaans did bother me. Too close to Dutch to not be able to read it and on the other hand very different, so while reading I had to think too much for a smooth read.
The decision was made: I'm passing on this book and will get me another copy. If life calms down, I'll take the edition in Afrikaans again, otherwise a book that is either in Dutch or in English.

I read this book a long time ago but it stays with me it is that good . Hard to find in Canada., but worth it. ( )