| Vendor | |
|---|---|
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Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus |
| Original language | |
| English | |
THE LOST LANGUAGE OF THE SOUL
Joseph Mabaso is used to his father Sobhuza's long absences from the family home in Lusaka. Sobhuza is a freedom fighter and doing important work, and Joseph has learned not to ask questions. But when Chanda, his mother, disappears without a trace, leaving him and his siblings alone, Joseph knows that something is terribly wrong.
So begins a journey, physically arduous and dangerous and emotionally fraught, that no 14-year-old boy should have to undertake alone. Following the most tenuous of threads, Joseph finds some unlikely guides along the way: courageous Leila and her horses; Sis Violet and the guerrilla unit she commands; Mr Chikwedere, stonecutter and illicit trader; Madala at the Lesedi Repatriation Camp, who helps him find his voice; and Aunt Susie Juma, unofficial Zambian ambassador in Yeoville, Johannesburg, whose detective skills are legendary.
As Joseph navigates unfamiliar and often hostile territory in his search for his parents, he is on a parallel journey of discovery - one of identity and belonging - as he attempts to find a safe house that is truly safe, a language that understands all languages, and a place in his soul that feels like home.
A review calls it the Zambian DAVID COPPERFIELD.
Mandla Langa is one of South Africa's luminaries. Born in 1950 in Durban grew up in KwaMashu.. He went into exile in 1976 and has lived in Botswana, Mozambique, Angola, Hungary, Zambia and the United Kingdom. Currently, he lives in Johannesburg. In 1980 he won the Drum story contest for The Dead Men Who Lost Their Bones' and in 1991 he was awarded the Arts Council of Great Britain Bursary for creative writing, the first for a South African. Some of his works include the award-winning The Lost Colours of the Chameleon (2008) and the bestselling The Texture of Shadows (2014). Langa also co-authored the late Nelson Mandela's Dare Not Linger.
So begins a journey, physically arduous and dangerous and emotionally fraught, that no 14-year-old boy should have to undertake alone. Following the most tenuous of threads, Joseph finds some unlikely guides along the way: courageous Leila and her horses; Sis Violet and the guerrilla unit she commands; Mr Chikwedere, stonecutter and illicit trader; Madala at the Lesedi Repatriation Camp, who helps him find his voice; and Aunt Susie Juma, unofficial Zambian ambassador in Yeoville, Johannesburg, whose detective skills are legendary.
As Joseph navigates unfamiliar and often hostile territory in his search for his parents, he is on a parallel journey of discovery - one of identity and belonging - as he attempts to find a safe house that is truly safe, a language that understands all languages, and a place in his soul that feels like home.
A review calls it the Zambian DAVID COPPERFIELD.
Mandla Langa is one of South Africa's luminaries. Born in 1950 in Durban grew up in KwaMashu.. He went into exile in 1976 and has lived in Botswana, Mozambique, Angola, Hungary, Zambia and the United Kingdom. Currently, he lives in Johannesburg. In 1980 he won the Drum story contest for The Dead Men Who Lost Their Bones' and in 1991 he was awarded the Arts Council of Great Britain Bursary for creative writing, the first for a South African. Some of his works include the award-winning The Lost Colours of the Chameleon (2008) and the bestselling The Texture of Shadows (2014). Langa also co-authored the late Nelson Mandela's Dare Not Linger.
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Book
Published 2021-09-01 by Picador (Africa) |