Hum If You Don't Know the Words

Hum If You Don't Know the Words

Bianca Marais2017
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.
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of Colleen
Colleen@mirificmoxie
4 stars
Apr 15, 2023
Photo of Daryl Houston
Daryl Houston@dllh
3 stars
Nov 18, 2021
Photo of Leila Somani-Davis
Leila Somani-Davis@leila711
3.5 stars
Jun 14, 2022
Photo of Olivia
Olivia@owalsh2
3 stars
Jan 4, 2024
Photo of Lea
Lea@leafi
5 stars
Nov 18, 2021
Photo of Elizabeth Hisserich
Elizabeth Hisserich@lizhiss
2 stars
Nov 16, 2021