Agaat

This tale of an Afrikaner and her Hottentot serving girl makes for slow but enchanted reading. It is suspenseful and filled with the details of farm life in Cape Town, South Africa before Apartheid was ended. It spans the time between 1953 when Milla came into contact with Agaat Lorier. It ends in 1996 with Milla's death. It is written in catchy style, leaving you in suspense as to how the wife of a white farmer in Cape Town adopted a young black child and raised her, eventually creating a rift between them that plays out as Milla is helplessly dying. If you are a lover of Africa, as I am, you will be consumed with this novel.

Agaat is about two woman, one white and one brown, on a farm in the Karoo, and the hold they have over each other.It's a monument to what the narrator calls "the compulsion to tell "expressing truths that are too heartfelt, revelatory and damaging for proud people to speak aloud - or even to admit to themselves in private"

An amazingly powerful book on the loss which comes with voicelessness - of women, of men, of children, and the antisocial behaviour which is almost inescapable as a result - all with the BEST intentions of course!

A deep and fascinating story of an Afrikaner woman farmer in South Africa and her relationship with an adopted black girl who grows into strong and complex person. Set in a traditional Afrikaner region during and just after the end of apartheid.

A profoundly moving, disturbing book written from the point of view of a totally incapacitated woman. Beautifully written, a bit long but compelling to the end.

It kept me spell bound right to the end. The book is well written and make one think again about the influence of your actions on other people

Very good

This is a hard book to read because of the subject matter. But it was worth it. One of best books I have read in the last 10 years.