Children of sugarcane
By: Joanne Joseph
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Published: 2021
Place of publication: Johannesburg; Cape Town
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9781776191710; 9781776191727
Copyright date: 2021
Subjects: Indentured servants; Fiction; Villages; Arranged marriage; Women immigrants; Emigration and immigration; Social conditions; South African fiction (English)
Description: "Vividly set against the backdrop of 19th century India and the British-owned sugarcane plantations of Natal, written with great tenderness and lyricism, Children of Sugarcane paints an intimate and wrenching picture of indenture told from a woman's perspective. Shanti, a bright teenager stifled by life in rural India and facing an arranged marriage, dreams that South Africa is an opportunity to start afresh. The Colony of Natal is where Shanti believes she can escape the poverty, caste, and troubling fate of young girls in her village. Months later, after a harrowing sea voyage, she arrives in Natal only to discover the profound hardship and slave labour that await her.  Spanning four decades and two continents, Children of Sugarcane demonstrates the lifegiving power of love, heartache, and the indestructible bonds between family and friends. These bonds prompt heroism and sacrifice, the final act of which leads to Shanti's redemption. " --