Ashes of the Land, tells the tale of post-apartheid South Africa. It is built around the experiences of Gert and Susanna Niemand, a mixed-race family of farmers and their kids—who are all shaped and damaged by a system attempting to remove land rights, keep people quiet about their struggles and divide families.
The author uses memory suppression, the pain of generational betrayals and land restitution to discuss how symbolic resistance works through the spiral motif found in hidden paintings and rituals. For many years, characters deal with political repression, the affects of spiritual shock and dishonest representation of events.
The book is built around both personal and political grappling and Koosie, Isaak and Magda represent the country’s troubled past and uncertain future.
Essentially, Ashes of the Land tells a gripping story by mixing the personal struggles of a family with resistance to injustice, all surrounded by the quiet, unforgettable violence of losing land in apartheid South Africa.
