A Blade of Grass, - Softcover

Lewis DeSoto

3.68

1,213 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1904559077 ISBN 13: 9781904559078

Publisher: MAIA BOOKS, 2007

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Marit Laurens, recently orphaned and newly wed, farms with her husband Ben in an Edenic setting near the border of South Africa. But when guerrilla violence and tragedy visit their lives, Marit finds herself in a tug of war between the local Afrikaaners near the farm and the black workers who live on it. Frightened and confused, she turns to the only person who can offer her friendship - her black maid, Tembi. Marit stubbornly determines to run the farm with Tembi's help, until the encroaching civil war brings out their conflicting loyalties and turns their struggle into a desperate fight for their lives. Lyrical and profound, this exciting novel offers a unique perspective on what it means to be black and white in a country where both live and feel entitlement. Moving beyond its own time and place, it becomes a universal story of the price of freedom.

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Review:

A significant work of post-colonial literature ... and a gripping read. A wondrous thing indeed. -- The Montreal Gazette

A splendid novel . . . what fiction should be: instructive, moving, enthralling -- Margaret Forster

An admirable offering ... finely rendered, vital and moving. -- The National Post

Brilliant on the atmosphere of a particular part of Africa, and with much tender psychological insight into states of mind -- U A Fanthorpe, Ondaatje Prize judge 2005

DeSoto writes lyrically about the African countryside, and he delicately reveals the nuances of interracial sexual attraction. -- The New York Times

Depicts the South African countryside so vividly you can almost smell it -- John Lanchester, Ondaatje Prize judge 2005

One of the 22 longlisted titles announced 26 August -- Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2004

One of the shortlist of six, announced 21 April 2005 -- Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2005

Poignantly brings alive the profound affection and the conflict between an Afrikaaner farmer's wife and her black servant -- Victoria Glendinning, Ondaatje Prize judge 2005

...has a contemporary relevance, and yet touches a universal chord . . .
the plot moves towards [a] devastating conclusion. -- Sainsbury's Magazine, June 2004

About the Author:

Lewis DeSoto was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and emigrated with his family to Canada in the 1960s. A graduate of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia, he has exhibited in galleries across Canada. His writing has been published in numerous literary journals, and he was awarded the Books in Canada/Writers' Trust Short Prose Award. A past editor of The Literary Review of Canada, Lewis DeSoto lives with his wife, the Swedish artist Gunilla Josephson, in Toronto and Normandy, France. This is his first novel.

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