He reached down, softly laid a hand on the swaddling and said, Heres Shumikazi, Miseka. In that moment of sacred oneness, he beheld the dead-lips, bent down to her ear, and whispered, Miseka here is Shumikazi.
This is the story of Shumikazi, the only surviving child of JoJo and Miseka. She grows up in a small village in the remote Eastern Cape during the days of white rule from the outside, an apparently unremarkable life. And yet Shumi is marked for extraordinary things from the moment of her birth.
Wry, tragic, funny, scathing, with a Greek chorus of villagers voices, this rich new novel from one of South Africas most beloved storytellers underscores the dignity of those often rendered invisible poor, rural women, their families and communities. These marginal characters crackle with life and verve as they step into the center of the national narrative in Magonas skilled hands. A powerful meditation on the vulnerability of rural women, it is also a series of overlapping love stories above all, the love a father has for his daughter.
Chasing the Tails of My Fathers Cattle is not like anything else I have seen. Such a little story, about such little, invisible people. Such a huge story, about such timeless, recognizable people. It has the feel of a Greek tragedy, complete with clucking chorus, but with more optimism. And what an extraordinary tale of the vast majority of womens lives in this country. What a powerful, non-preachy meditation on the vulnerability of rural women in traditional cultures.