About this item
Highlights
- With years of abuse behind her and a bleak future ahead, a young German woman dreams of her country's colony in South-West Africa.
- Author(s): André Brink
- 311 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Historical
Description
Book Synopsis
With years of abuse behind her and a bleak future ahead, a young German woman dreams of her country's colony in South-West Africa. When she learns of the women being transported to the colony to attend to the needs of male settlers, Hanna X takes the leap.
In Africa she is confronted with the harsh realities of colonial life. For resisting the advances of a German officer, she is banished to Frauenstein, a phantasmagoric outpost that is at once a "prison, nunnery, brothel, and shithouse." When the drunken excesses of visiting soldiers threaten the young girl who has become her only companion, Hanna revolts.
Mounting a ragtag army of women and native victims of brutality, she sets out on an epic journey to take on the German Reich. Combining the history of colonialism with the myths of Africa, this is an exquisitely written tale of suffering, violence, revenge, and, simply, love.
From the Back Cover
PRAISE FOR ANDRE BRINK"Peter Carey, Garcia Marquez, Solzhenitsyn: Andre Brink must be considered with that class of writer." - The Guardian (London)
PRAISE FOR THE RIGHTS OF DESIRE
"Whoever reads this lyrical, deeply moral novel cannot expect to remain unmoved." - Boston Review
PRAISE FOR DEVIL'S VALLEY
"Wildly imaginative fiction." - The Boston Globe
"Colorful, idiosyncratic characters, larger than life, populate the pages and stay with one long after the book is closed." - The Seattle Times
PRAISE FOR A DRY WHITE SEASON
"A powerful and provocative work, highly charged and political . . . A literary achievement of the first rank." - Houston Chronicle
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Review Quotes
PRAISE FOR THE RIGHTS OF DESIRE
"During a long career, South African writer André Brink has probed the boundaries between personal and public realms. He continues his investigations with unabated vigor in his compelling new book.... The effect is as sad and lovely as life itself."--Chicago Tribune PRAISE FOR A DRY WHITE SEASON "A powerful and provocative work...A literary achievement of the first rank."--Houston Chronicle--