A Blade of Grass - Tapa blanda

'A plangent debut ... an extremely persuasive bit of storytelling' Daily Mail 'Outstanding debut novel ... a cogent portrayal of race relations during the apartheid era' The Times '[One of] the most interesting novels to have emerged from South Africa recently ... does something few African writers have dared try' Economist 'A splendid novel ... what fiction should be: instructive, moving, enthralling' Margaret Forster

Marit Laurens, recently orphaned and newly wed, farms with her husband Ben in an Edenic setting near the border of South Africa. But when guerrilla violence and tragedy visit their lives, Marit finds herself in a tug of war between the local Afrikaaners near the farm and the black workers who live on it. Frightened and confused, she turns to the only person who can offer her friendship - her black maid, Tembi. Marit stubbornly determines to run the farm with Tembi's help, until the encroaching civil war brings out their conflicting loyalties and turns their struggle into a desperate fight for their lives. Lyrical and profound, this exciting novel offers a unique perspective on what it means to be black and white in a country where both live and feel entitlement. Moving beyond its own time and place, it becomes a universal story of the price of freedom.