Franschhoek Memories - Gwen Jennings

In 1986 Gwen Jennings moved, somewhat unexpectedly, from Johannesburg to a farm in Franschhoek, a valley famed for the great beauty of its mountains, vineyards, and roses. Here she discovered once again, in an echo of her country childhood in Rivonia, her love of scenery, space and small towns. In this engaging book she records the stories of the people who have lived and worked in the valley for generations the unsung, unheralded people of Franschhoek as well as those of the older farmers.

They are stories filled with drama, incident, courage and good humour. We meet a penitent on the road, farm workers devoted to ballroom dancing, dinner parties with cuisine that makes you wish you were there, a hilarious funeral that rivals anything out of Ireland or Provence. At the heart of all these stories is a great love and longing for home and family, for church and land, representing a life and an intimacy that are fast disappearing from the valleys of the Boland.