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Before The Knife
0 - Default Title
Description
Carolyn's father was in the colonial service but he lacked power and was ashamed of his Irish origins. In private he was capable of acts of absolute sadism. When Carolyn was small they lived comfortably in Swaziland having left India during the Partition. But when she turned six things changed. Her mother gave birth to another daughter and they were posted to a remote area in the Kalahari desert. Bereft of a civilized social life her mother plunged into a deep depression and turned completely away from Carolyn. While her older sister found friends and left for boarding school Carolyn suffered a desperate sense of abandonment and loss and turned to the landscape of the Kalahari itself for solace.
The stark fact that Carolyn was first raped by her father at the age of six is contained within the prologue and epilogue of this book. What lies in between is the story of an extraordinary childhood in Africa and a moving depiction of the complexities at the root of our relationships with mother father siblings. Despite its sometimes harrowing contents it is a work of great dangerous beauty.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Edition:
1
Number of Pages:
274
Release Date:
2010-04-20
Publication Date:
2010-04-20
Publisher:
Black Swan
Languages:
Original:
English
ISBN10:
0552776866
ISBN13:
9780552776868
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
Minimum Reading Age:
0
Weight:
325 g
Height:
127 cm
Width:
198 cm
Thickness:
16 cm
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