Before the KnifeIn this unforgettable memoir, acclaimed novelist Carolyn Slaughter recalls her childhood in Africa and how the land itself released her from a rage that threatened to destroy her. For Carolyn Slaughter, who grew up in Botswana in the 1950s, it was the Kalahari Desert that made life bearable. Her father was a cruel and violent district commissioner during the last days of British colonial rule, and their family’s stiff English facade masked an unspeakable household secret. But out in the bush, the intensity of the air and the beauty of the landscape touched her with a kind of feverish grace. She would disappear for hours to watch the flat brown river with its water lilies and crocodiles; the thorn trees and the flocks of flamingos; the local women with their babies strapped to their backs. Filled with the majesty and splendor of the ever-changing desert, Before The Knife is the deeply moving story of a girl who endured and transcended her family’s violence to emerge an impassioned observer and explicator of her world. |
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Africa Afrikaans Angela asked barely beautiful Bechuanaland began blood blue boat Botswana British bush child close colonial Cordeur dark desert dirt dress England eyes face father feel felt Francistown Gaberones Gabs garden girls gone hair hand happened head India Johannesburg kaffir Kalahari Kalahari Desert keep kids kitchen knew knife kraal legs lived looked Mafeking Mary's Maun mother mouth moved Mpanda never night nuns Okavango River once polio pulled remember Rena river rutted road sand Sarie Marais scarlet seemed servants sister sitting sjambok skin sleep slowly smile soon South Africa stared stay stoep stop Susan Swaziland tell Thamalakane River things thought thousand-yard stare told took trees truck trying turned Virginia Vyvyan waiting walked wall wanted watched who'd wild window