Joan Southey, Footprints in the Karoo: A Story of Farming Life. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 1990.
Royal octavo, hard cover, dustwrapper, photographic illustrations, colour plates.
Very good condition.
There is something magical about the vast semi-desert region known simply as the Karoo. Despite its frequent droughts and extremes of climate, the Karoo nurtures life in great abundance and its plains team with animals of every description. After the seasonal rains the recovery of the veld is miraculous: frogs chorus in full throat and a carpet of brilliant flowers spreads dramatically over the once barren wasteland.
To the passing motorist who has been driving in the heat for hour upon hour, its desolation and aridity seem harsh indeed. But to those who have been captivated by its fierce beauty, the Karoo is a place unlike any other.
This land of sudden contrasts cast its spell on author Joan Southey. As a young bride she entered farming life not knowing the difference between a sheep and a goat, but gradually as she settled into the rhythms of the Karoo, it became her home.
In Footprints in the Karoo Joan Southey takes the reader on an energetic rural journey through her beloved Karoogoing into the homes of many prominent farming families, she provides a glimpse of what actually happens on their farms dotted like oases over the dusty countryside. She acquaints us with the legendary Karoo hospitality, best displayed at social gatherings, weddings, funerals and the inimitable New Year's Eve dance at the town hall. She reveals the delights of the country kitchen with its shelves of bottled preserves and strings of home-made wors, and she allows us to eavesdrop on the party-line telephone exchange, its operators presiding authoritatively over all local news and gossip. Visits to the barbershop, shopping expeditions to town, dispersal sales and street auctionsare described with affection and humour and weave a rich tapestry of farming life in the Karoo.
Like generations of farmers before her, Joan Southey has succumbed to the pull of that old Karoo magicand for her there is really no other life. In Footprints in the Karoo she celebrates the subtle pleasures of farming life, sharing its joys and hardships with a wide reading public.
