The Housemaid's Daughter
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The Housemaid's Daughter
Narrated by:
Lisa Dillon
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Lisa Dillon
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By:
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Barbara Mutch
About this listen
Duty and love collide on the arid plains of central South Africa. Previously released as 'Karoo Plainsong' this is a fully revised debut novel.
Cathleen Harrington leaves her home in Ireland in 1919 to travel to South Africa and marry the fiance she has not seen for five years. Isolated and estranged in a harsh landscape, she finds solace in her diary and the friendship of her housemaid's daughter, Ada. Cathleen recognises in her someone she can love and respond to in a way that she cannot with her own husband and daughter. Under Cathleen's tutelage, Ada grows into an accomplished pianist, and a reader who cannot resist turning the pages of the diary, discovering the secrets Cathleen sought to hide.
When Ada is compromised and finds she is expecting a mixed-race child, she flees her home, determined to spare Cathleen the knowledge of her betrayal, and the disgrace that would descend upon the family. Scorned within her own community, Ada is forced to carve a life for herself, her child, and her music. But Cathleen still believes in Ada, and risks the constraints of apartheid to search for her and persuade her to return with her daughter. Beyond the cruelty, there is love, hope - and redemption.
(P)2012 Headline Digital©2012 Barbara Mutch Ltd
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Critic reviews
'If you love last summer's THE HELP, try the HOUSEMAID'S DAUGHTER by Barbara Mutch... The friendship at its centre will leave your singing.'
'This debut novel has echoes of Kathryn Stockett's THE HELP and is equally compelling... Ada's story is both an enjoyable and a very moving one, told with sensitivity and feeling.'
Good story
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I loved the characters and really warmed to them.
I loved it.
I was captured in this world.
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a south African truth
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What did you like best about this story?
The story had many positive aspects, so it is hard to choose just 1 which I liked best. It is very well written, inducing a myriad of emotions in the reader/listener - at times heart warming, and at others sad. We follow the life of a black South African maid from before, during, and after the end of apartheid. The tempo is very well managed, given how much ground is covered, and I did not feel any sections to be either rushed or over-long. It also comes across as very real - we hear about the struggles of the black and coloured (mixed race black and white) communities, and the bigoted views of many white people. It is personalised by focussing on the life of one individual, which really draws you into the story. I would definitely recommend this audiobook.A beautiful story
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Good story,bad pronouncement of South African word
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