A Blade of Grass
Written by Lewis DeSoto
- Longlisted
- The Man Booker Prize 2004
- Published by Maia
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Lewis DeSoto’s assured, tension-filled debut is a story of friendship and betrayal and of the trauma of the land that has shaped post-colonial Africa
In the wake of tragedy, Märit, a young woman of British descent, remains determined to run her farm in South Africa. But she finds herself in a simmering tug of war between the local Afrikaner community and the farm workers. Märit’s only supporter is her housekeeper, Tembi, who is also alone in the world. Together, the women struggle to hold on to the farm, but the encroaching civil war brings out conflicting loyalties that turn the fight for the farm into a fight for their lives.
Lewis DeSoto
Lewis DeSoto was born in South Africa and immigrated to Canada as a teenager in the 1960s. There, he trained as a painter rather than a writer and remains more active with the brush than the pen
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