One of the many chilling things about this powerful, harrowing novel is that, for a tale of appalling inhumanity and suffering, Andre Brink had to look no further than his own family tree.
One of the many chilling things about this powerful, harrowing novel is that, for a tale of appalling inhumanity and suffering, Andre Brink had to look no further than his own family tree.
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alastair mabbott
The patriarch of the slave-owning South African family at the heart of the story is named Cornelis Brink, a brother of one of the author's ancestors, in the early 19th century.
The eponymous Philida is a slave whose sexual favours have been enjoyed by Cornelis's son, Frans, for eight years, and she has borne him four children, on the promise that he would eventually reward her with freedom. One day in the 1830s, having realised Frans's promises were hot air, she goes to the Office of the Slave Protector to complain.
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