Islands
Islands by Dan Sleigh is a significant literary work published by Vintage in 2005, presented in the First English Language Paperback Edition. This 758-page novel explores the early years of Dutch settlement at the Cape, beginning with the perspective of the Khoi nation, the Goringhaicona, led by Autshumao. The narrative highlights the transformative impact of colonization on indigenous ways of life, introducing key figures such as Krotoa, who serves as a bridge between the European settlers and the Khoi people.
Readers will find a rich tapestry of historical events and personal stories that illustrate the complex interactions between cultures during this period. The novel delves into the lives of pivotal male characters, all connected through the mixed-race child Pieternella, as they navigate the vast historical forces shaping their world in the late 17th and 18th centuries. The influence of the Dutch East India Company looms large, underscoring the often harsh realities faced by those under its rule. This edition offers an in-depth look at the intricate dynamics of power, identity, and survival in a time of significant change.
Official Synopsis
A major work of literature, and one of the most important novels to have come out of South Africa. Islandscovers the first half-century or so of Dutch settlement at the Cape, opening with a view from inside a Khoi nation, the Goringhaicona, under the leadership of Autshumao. For the indigenous peoples it is the beginning of the end of a way of life in close interaction with the subcontinent, its seasons and rhythms, its harshness and abundance. It was during Autshumao’s time that the first key woman of South Africa’s post-colonization story makes her appearance; Krotoa, brought into Commander Van Riebeeck’s household as Eva, go-between and interpreter between the Europeans and the Khoi. It is her mixed-race child, Pieternella, who becomes the pivot of all the action in this unforgettable epic. Through the life stories of key male figures, yet all of them defined in one way or another by Pieternella, the reader is offered an understanding of the vast historical forces at work in the shaping of the world in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Behind these “little men” lies the shadowy Dutch East India Company which, ultimately, decides the fate of all the millions ruled by it; it is as inexorable and as mindlessly cruel as Nature itself.
