Soon there must come a day when I can say for myself: This and that I shall do, this and that I shall not. Philida is the mother of four children by Francois Brink, the son of her master. The year is 1832 and the Cape is rife with rumours about the liberation of the slaves. Philida decides to risk her whole life by lodging a complaint against Francois, who has reneged on his promise to set her free. His father has ordered him to marry a white woman from a prominent Cape Town family, and Philida will be sold on to owners in the harsh country up north. Unwilling to accept this fate, Philida continues to test the limits of her freedom, and with the Muslim slave Labyn she sets off on a journey across the great wilderness on the banks of the Gariep River, to the far north of Cape Town. "Philida" is an unforgettable story of one woman's determination to survive and be free.
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Review:
"A compelling and memorable novel" (Alex Clark Guardian)
"Rich and complex" (Paul Dunn The Times)
"In the hands of Mr Brink, one of South Africa’s most famous novelists, the land breathes, it feels alive" (The Economist)
"Philida is a very powerful novel" (Michael Arditti Daily Mail)
"A moving story of one woman’s struggle against hierarchies of race and gender that seek her absolute subjugation, Philida vividly dramatises the courage required to lay claim to the protections of the law, to speak out for ones rights even in the moment in which the law is on the wrong side of history" (Patrick Flannery Daily Telegraph)
Book Description:
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2012.
An unforgettable story of a woman determined to find her freedom - set in South Africa in 1830s, as slavery was about to be abolished.
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