Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I read this book as background reading for a manuscript I'm currently working on.
'Islands' is an epic book in every sense of the word: spanning decades, generations, and in with its 760 pages, sheer volume. It tells the story of Pieternel, the first half-blood child born in 17th-century South Africa. Pieternel is the daughter of Eva, also known by the Koina name 'Krotoa', and Pieter van der Meerhof. Her story is told through the eyes of the seven men who played an important role in her life one way or another: her father, the men that wooed her, her husband, the clerk that wrote down her story. Their stories in turn are told in great, sometimes excrutiating detail. The book is full of historical flavour of the times, and provides a true window to the lives, hardships and tragedies of the Dutch colonists in the Cape and on Mauritius, where Pieternel lived her married life.
It is a tremendous book that is the result of a serious amount of research by author Dan Sleigh, who used to work as a researcher at the National Archives in Cape Town. His access to these sources shows through in this novel, but at the same time he has fallen into the trap of wanting to including every scrap of information on the time, however interesting that information may be. He names historical characters that have no real part in the story and he takes winding side-paths away from that of Pieternel. As a result I sometimes felt I had to persevere with this book, but I am glad I saw it through till the end, as it is one of those books on South Africa that left an impression and will stay with me. Great background reading for anyone who is seriously interested in the early history of South Africa. Compliments also to Andre Brink, who translated this book from Afrikaans into English: the prose is very good.