The year I was on the panel, our selections including Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project, Hannah Kent's Burial Rites, and Antoine Laurain's The President's Hat, all of which went on to great success at Boswell and elsewhere. I enthusiastically recommended being on the panel to Jason, our adult buyer, and what a treasure trove this experience has been. He's read all kinds of great books he might not have read under usual circumstances, and his enthusiasm has been infectious, leading me to read Finn Murphy's The Long Haul and Augustus Rose's The Readymade Thief.*
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The novel is set in South Africa in the 1970s. The Conrads live in a whites-only suburb of Johannesburg, where the father, Keith, is a supervisor at a mine. Boisterous Robin, along with her much quieter sister Cat, are taken care of by Mabel, their black maid. There's tension, not between whites and blacks, but between Brits and Afrikaners, a legacy of the Boer War.
Meanwhile, Beauty Mbali is a teacher with two children, one of whom, Nomsa, is going to high school far away. What she doesn't know is that Nomsa, a brave woman who was taught to stand up for justice, is helping lead a very large protest, in response to government decree that students must be taught in Afrikaans, not English. But the government retailiates violently and Nomsa disappears. And Beauty sets off to find her, not knowing if she's even alive.
The story alternates between Robin and Beauty's stories. Robin slowly gets a new family, including Maggie, the librarian heroine (and who doesn't love that), young Morrie Goldman and his family, Edith's friend gay friend Victor, and King George, a mixed-race gentleman who lives in the basement. Even the evil Afrikaner social worker turns out to be not quite what Robin expected. But the true heart of the story is the relationship between Robin and Beauty.
Here's what our buyer Jason Kennedy wrote about Hum If You Don't Know the Words: "Bianca Marais does a remarkable job at breathing life into such a sad and tense time in South Africa's history; this is a book many people should have on their must-read lists of 2017."
In addition, Sharon called the novel "terrific," Anne proclaimed it "great" (informally, while she so me carrying around the advance reading copy), and Jane regaled me with several email messages about how good the book was and what interesting discussions it would spark. In other words, perfect for book clubs!
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Here's my suggestion. The book is just out and your book club has probably selected books out for at least a few months, if not the whole season. But why don't one or two of you consider attending Sunday's event? You can decide for yourself if it works for your group, and you'll be ahead of the game at getting material to prepare for the discussion.
Want a sneak peak? Marais will be speaking to Mitch Teich on Lake Effect on Friday's show.
Tickets are $30, including the book, tax, admission, and light refreshments. If you belong to the Lynden Scultpure Garden, the cost is $25. Visit their website or call them at (414) 446-8794. And I have to say, it wouldn't be a bad thing to read Father's Day before or after.
*Augustus Rose is coming to Boswell on Tuesday, August 22, 7 pm.
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