Barbara Mutch

After traveling to South Africa for a loveless marriage in 1919, a young Irish woman befriends Ada, the daughter of the housemaid, and must decide what to do when the girl goes missing after being scorned by the community. 50,000 first printing.

The Housemaid's Daughter

Girl from Simon's Bay

This vivid novel, set against a backdrop of apartheid, tells the story of Ada, an illegitimate, unschooled but brilliant pianist who grows up in service to a family of Irish immigrants. As apartheid tightens its grip, she is seduced into an illegal relationship and bears a mixed race child. Forced to flee from the only home she knows, she must carve a life for herself, her daughter and her music in the bleak township that squats on the edge of the Karoo. Torn between love for her surrogate family and outrage at apartheid's sins, she embarks on a dangerous double life as friend - and potential foe - of both black and white. A powerful tale of love, loss and redemption, this is a journey into the soul of a fractured nation. It illustrates two simultaneous but contrasting views of South Africa under apartheid – seen through the eyes of a remarkable black woman who holds on for the miracle. Fans of romance, fiction and history will enjoy this personal tale of woman’s survival in a time of turmoil.

Karoo Plainsong

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.

‘An author with great skill in crafting a gripping and soul-searching story’ Leah Fleming When Englishwoman Frances McDonald sets up home in a remote hamlet in South Africa in the the shadow of the Hex Mountains, she is regarded with suspicion by the community. Confined by a marriage of convenience, she seeks an outlet by learning the local language, teaching art, and exhibiting her paintings of the stunning veld landscape. Soon the spectre of war threatens to divide not only the country but the town itself and scupper Frances’ hard-won acceptance. While her husband leaves to fight for the Allies, Frances chances to meet a former love. The bright joy of that unexpected reunion is clouded by a day that will change her life. Out of the smoke and ash of a shocking fire, she is propelled on a journey that will take her from the arid veld to the bright lights of London and beyond.

The page-turning novel of love and loss

The Fire Portrait

1937. Simon's Town is a vibrant and diverse community in a picturesque part of the Union of South Africa. Louise Ahrendts, daughter of a shipbuilder, nurtures the idea that through hard work she could step beyond a destiny of domestic service. When the Second World War breaks out and the port becomes a hub of activity, Louise's path crosses with th

The Girl from Simon's Bay

Simon's Town, base de la Marina Real británica en Sudáfrica, primera mitad del siglo XX. Louise Ahrendts es una chica de piel oscura, con carácter y decidida: quiere ser enfermera pese al rol que le depara una sociedad condicionada por leyes no escritas sobre el color de la piel. David Horrocks es inglés, blanco y teniente de la Marina. El destino va a hacer que se crucen sus caminos. A contracorriente, ambos quieren unir sus vidas pero la Segunda Guerra Mundial y las presiones sociales harán todo lo posible por impedirlo, sembrando de obstáculos su día a día. La llegada del "apartheid" supondrá un nuevo escollo en la vida de Louise y su familia. ¿Podrán superarlo? Como ya hizo en "La hija de la criada", Barbara Mutch nos describe con una gran precisión las costumbres y condicionantes sociales de una época concreta de la historia sudafricana; y, al mismo tiempo, con un enorme lirismo, la sorprendente belleza natural del lugar: el mar vibrante que baña Simon's Town, las montañas cubiertas de fynbos que la rodean, los pájaros, el viento constante..., en esta bonita historia de amores prohibidos en tiempos aciagos que es "La chica de Simon's Bay".

La chica de Simon's Bay

Cathleen Harrington verlaat in 1919 haar thuis in Ierland om naar de droge vlakten van de Oostelijke Kaapprovincie in Zuid-Afrika te reizen en te trouwen met een man van wie zij niet houdt. Afgezonderd en vervreemd vindt ze troost in haar dagboek en in de sterke band met Ada, het dochtertje van haar zwarte dienstmeisje. Cathleen leert Ada lezen en schrijven en geeft haar zelfs pianoles. Wanneer Ada in opspraak raakt omdat ze een kind verwacht van een blanke, moet ze vluchten. Maar Cathleen gaat de opgelegde strenge wetten van de apartheid negerend naar Ada op zoek om haar te vragen terug naar huis te komen.

De Kleur Van Haar Hart

A seashell holds echoes of a forbidden wartime romance 1937. Louise Ahrendts, daughter of a shipbuilder, is at home in Simon’s Town, a vibrant community in the Union of South Africa, with a Royal Navy port at its heart. Louise dreams of becoming a nurse and in a world of unwritten, unspoken rules about colour, she has to fight to make it a reality. The outbreak of the Second World War brings a man into Louise’s world whom she is determined to follow – despite all the obstacles that life and conflict throw in their way. But when a new troubled moment of history dawns, can they find their way back to each other? ‘An absorbing and tender love story with a twist’ Cape Argus

La difícil elección entre el amor y el sentido del deber, entre la amistad y las convenciones sociales en las áridas llanuras de Suráfrica. Corre el año de 1919. Cathleen se traslada a Suráfrica, al duro y desértico Karoo, para casarse con su prometido al que no ha visto en cinco años. Pero el matrimonio no va a resultar como había soñado. Aislada en un entorno inhóspito, Cathleen encuentra consuelo en escribir su diario y en criar a sus dos hijos, Philip y Rose. También a Ada, la hija de su criada, a la que enseña a leer y a tocar el piano, a amar a Chopin. Todo se verá alterado cuando Ada descubre que está embarazada, que espera un hijo mestizo en un país que no admite las relaciones entre blancos y negros. Ada se escapa al sentir que ha traicionado a Cathleen. Despreciada y marginada por ambas comunidades, tiene que luchar por su supervivencia y la de su hija. La música, y Cathleen, serán sus refugios. "La hija de la criada" es una deliciosa y emotiva novela, cargada de sentimientos, que retrata con hondo detalle el drama y la desolación de dos mujeres de inquebrantable valor cuya profunda amistad les lleva a superar las inhumanas convenciones sociales de una época y los peligrosos límites de la segregación. Una historia que nos enseña que más allá de la crueldad humana perdura el amor y la esperanza.

Barbara Mutch

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