Indies Introduce

Fiction

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  Hum If You Don't Know the Words, Bianca Marais
  G.P. Putnam's Sons, 9780399575068, April 27, 2017 (Fiction)
  

  “Against the backdrop South Africa in the 1970s, Hum If You Don’t Know the Words follows Robin, a young white girl whose parents were killed, and Beauty, a black woman who searches for her activist daughter in the aftermath of the Soweto uprising. Bianca Marais has written a crisp, clear-eyed story that doesn’t shy away from the racism and devastation of her home country’s apartheid history, while also showing that family and love can come in many forms.”

  Jamie Thomas, Women & Children First (Chicago, IL)
  
  

  I loved Bianca Marais's book, based on some of her own experiences growing up privileged in Apartheid-era South Africa. Robin’s relationship with her caregiver Beauty highlights issues of class and racism, set against a backdrop of loss and desperation. The author uses alternating voices in her narrative to tell of each character's experience. A beautiful and important book.

  Carolyn Hutton, Mrs. Dalloway's Literary & Garden Arts (Berkeley, CA)