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In her award-winning novel, Eyes of the Sky, Rayda Jacobs explores the complex and interconnected lives of the settlers and the enslaved in eighteenth century South Africa. Controlled by the Dutch for over a century, The Cape of Good Hope has witnessed the horrific enslavement of over sixty thousand men and women. In this impactful historical novel, we follow the saga of the Kloots; an old farming family recently settled on the edge of Cape Colony in the late eighteenth century.
As they struggle to live off the the harsh, barren landscape, tensions begin to rise to breaking point. While some are determined to despise the indigenous inhabitants of the Cape, one young member of the family, Harman, takes it upon himself to bridge the gap between the two groups and prevent them from mutual destruction. To fail risks the extinction of them all.
Full of dark history and unexpected twists,
Eyes of the Sky is a remarkable tale of identity, betrayal, forbidden love, and the fusing of people and cultures.
About the author
Rayda Jacobs is an award-winning author and filmmaker. She was born in Diep River, Cape Town in 1947 before moving to Toronto, Canada in 1968.
She published her first collection of short stories,
The Middle Children, in 1994. Jacobs went on to receive the Herman Charles Bosman Prize for English fiction for her debut novel,
Eyes of the Sky (1997) and the Sunday Times Fiction Prize for her 2003 novel,
Confessions of a Gambler. She later co-adapted the latter into a feature film and has produced and directed numerous documentaries for television.
She is currently the author of ten novels and multiple short story collections.
Summary
In her award-winning novel, Eyes of the Sky, Rayda Jacobs explores the complex and interconnected lives of the settlers and the enslaved in eighteenth century South Africa.
Controlled by the Dutch for over a century, The Cape of Good Hope witnessed the horrific enslavement of over sixty thousand men and women. Living amongst them were the Kloots; an old farming family recently settled on the edge of Cape Colony in the late eighteenth century. In this impactful, haunting historical novel, we follow the saga of their lives as they pass from generation to generation.
Full of dark history and unexpected twists, Eyes of the Sky is a remarkable tale of identity, betrayal, forbidden love, and the fusing of people and cultures.
Foreword
In her award-winning novel, Eyes of the Sky, Rayda Jacobs explores the complex and interconnected lives of the settlers and the enslaved in eighteenth century South Africa.
Additional text
[Jacobs] writes in a way which allows us to question certain things, that would normally be left alone or thrown under the rug.
