Hum if you don't know the words / Bianca Marais.
By: Marais, Bianca [author.].
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2017Description: 420 pages ; 24 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780399575068; 0399575065.Subject(s): Soweto Uprising (South Africa : 1976) | 1961-1994 | Apartheid -- South Africa -- Fiction | Families -- South Africa -- Fiction | FICTION -- Literary | FICTION -- Coming of Age | FICTION -- Family Life | Apartheid | Families | Family life -- South Africa -- Fiction | Apartheid -- South Africa -- Fiction | Family life -- South Africa -- Fiction | FICTION / Coming of Age | South Africa -- History -- Soweto Uprising, 1976 -- Fiction | South Africa -- History -- 1961-1994 -- Fiction | South Africa | South Africa -- History -- Soweto Uprising, 1976 -- Fiction | South Africa -- History -- 1961-1994 -- FictionGenre/Form: Fiction. | History. | Historical fiction. | Historical fiction. | Historical fiction.Additional physical formats: Online version:: Hum if you don't know the words.Summary: "Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy. Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred. Until the Soweto Uprising, in which a protest by black students ignites racial conflict, alters the fault lines on which their society is built, and shatters their worlds when Robin's parents are left dead and Beauty's daughter goes missing. After Robin is sent to live with her loving but irresponsible aunt, Beauty is hired to care for Robin while continuing the search for her daughter. In Beauty, Robin finds the security and family that she craves, and the two forge an inextricable bond through their deep personal losses. But Robin knows that if Beauty finds her daughter, Robin could lose her new caretaker forever, so she makes a desperate decision with devastating consequences. Her quest to make amends and find redemption is a journey of self-discovery in which she learns the harsh truths of the society that once promised her protection. Told through Beauty and Robin's alternating perspectives, the interwoven narratives create a rich and complex tapestry of the emotions and tensions at the heart of Apartheid-era South Africa. Hum if You Don't Know the Words is a beautifully rendered look at loss, racism, and the creation of family"--Item type | Current library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Haddon Twp. | Fiction | Adult | F Mar (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 05000009193660 | |||
Book | Merchantville | Fiction | Adult | F Mar (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 05000009193140 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation, but worlds apart, Beauty, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children after her husband's death. Told through Beauty and Robin's alternating perspectives, the narratives interweave to create a rich and complex tapestry of the emotions and tensions at the heart of Apartheid South Africa. Hum If You Don't Know the Words is a beautifully rendered look at loss, racism, and the creation of family.
"Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy. Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred. Until the Soweto Uprising, in which a protest by black students ignites racial conflict, alters the fault lines on which their society is built, and shatters their worlds when Robin's parents are left dead and Beauty's daughter goes missing. After Robin is sent to live with her loving but irresponsible aunt, Beauty is hired to care for Robin while continuing the search for her daughter. In Beauty, Robin finds the security and family that she craves, and the two forge an inextricable bond through their deep personal losses. But Robin knows that if Beauty finds her daughter, Robin could lose her new caretaker forever, so she makes a desperate decision with devastating consequences. Her quest to make amends and find redemption is a journey of self-discovery in which she learns the harsh truths of the society that once promised her protection. Told through Beauty and Robin's alternating perspectives, the interwoven narratives create a rich and complex tapestry of the emotions and tensions at the heart of Apartheid-era South Africa. Hum if You Don't Know the Words is a beautifully rendered look at loss, racism, and the creation of family"--