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Hum If You Don't Know the Words

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Hum If You Don't Know the Words

By: Bianca Marais
Narrated by: Katharine Lee McEwan, Bahni Turpin
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About this listen

 Perfect for readers of The Secret Life of Bees and The Help, a perceptive and searing look at Apartheid-era South Africa, told through one unique family brought together by tragedy.

Life under Apartheid has created a secure future for Robin Conrad, a ten-year-old white girl living with her parents in 1970s Johannesburg. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband's death. Both lives have been built upon the division of race, and their meeting should never have occurred...until the Soweto Uprising, in which a protest by black students ignites racial conflict, alters the fault lines on which their society is built, and shatters their worlds when Robin’s parents are left dead and Beauty’s daughter goes missing.

After Robin is sent to live with her loving but irresponsible aunt, Beauty is hired to care for Robin while continuing the search for her daughter. In Beauty, Robin finds the security and family that she craves, and the two forge an inextricable bond through their deep personal losses. But Robin knows that if Beauty finds her daughter, Robin could lose her new caretaker forever, so she makes a desperate decision with devastating consequences. Her quest to make amends and find redemption is a journey of self-discovery in which she learns the harsh truths of the society that once promised her protection.

Told through Beauty and Robin's alternating perspectives, the interwoven narratives create a rich and complex tapestry of the emotions and tensions at the heart of Apartheid-era South Africa. Hum If You Don’t Know the Words is a beautifully rendered look at loss, racism, and the creation of family. Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Africa Village Tear-jerking

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All stars
Most relevant
I am in love with Bianca Marais' writing style. Pronunciation of Xhosa wasn't good though.

Captivating Story

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This book is captivating and tells a very gripping story about SA's troubled past and what is still struggles with in the present!

Astonishing

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I struggled to get going with this book but then really enjoyed it as it went on. Plus I learned a little, which is never a bad thing. Sad, but not crazy depressing, which is preferred for me. Overall I'd recommend to a friend.

Starts slow but gets better.

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