Shadow, by Carel van der Merwe
Shadow, by Carel van der Merwe. Random House Struik Umuzi. Cape Town, South Africa 2012
Carel van der Merwe's intelligent and well plotted novel, Shadow, offers an insightful look at just how much South Africa has changed while ten thousands of ex-pats living overseas weren’t looking.
[...] The weekend getaway came at the right time. Lately things between Monica and him have been scratchy, minor irritations mostly, but also a couple of more serious arguments, the aftereffects of which lingered longer than usual. And Friday evening was the first time in several weeks that they had made love. The fault lies with him; for some reason his interest has waned during the last few months. Hopefully Bath marked a turning point. It is unseasonably hot for early June, and the pubs and coffee shops and restaurants that he passes are bursting at the seams. On Haverstock Hill he outpaces the slow-moving traffic, then steps into an off-licence and buys a couple of beers. He enters Hampstead Heath at the South End Green side and walks towards Highgate, past the ponds, where strollers and their children are feeding the ducks and exercising their dogs, then turns off the wide gravel path and walks along a narrower footpath that cuts through a small wood. It is as though he is making his way through a green tunnel, for the air smells damp and earthy and the trees and shrubbery blot out the city's buildings and traffic noise. This is his favourite part of London, and the reason he and Monica bought an apartment in Belsize Park three years ago. But although the park is large by British standards, three hundred hectares of ponds and fields and woods and undulating terrain, it is much smaller than the Waterberg farm where he spent part of his childhood. A substitute of sorts, he thinks, at a stretch. Monica and he often come walking here on weekends and some evenings after work, and he also sometimes jogs for half an hour or so on the paths crisscrossing the Heath when the weather allows. Most of the other players are already warming up when he reaches the playing field near Kenwood House. He greets them 10 and as usual hands his beers to Guy, one of the English players, to chill in his cooler until after the game. He joined the weekly game two years ago. [...]
This is an excerpt from the novel: Shadow, by Carel van der Merwe.
Title: Shadow
Author: Carel van der Merwe
Genre: Novel
Publisher: Random House Struik
Imprint: Umuzi
Cape Town, South Africa 2012
ISBN 9781415201817 / ISBN 978-1-4152-0181-7
Softcover, 15 x 22 cm, 256 pages
van der Merwe, Carel im Namibiana-Buchangebot
Shadow
Paul du Toit, main character of this novel, fights not only the shadows of his own life, but also the hidden powers that control South Africa.
Skaduwee
Die roman Skaduwee vorm ’n eenheid met Carel van der Merwe sy vorige twee boeke, Nasleep en Geldwolf.
Geldwolf
Die roman Geldwolf is oor intrige en korrupsie op die hoogste vlakke van die sakelewe, die regering en die samelewing.