Heartfruit - Ingrid Wolfaardt

Title: Heartfruit

Sub Title:

Author: Ingrid Wolfaardt

Publisher: Human & Rousseau

Year: 2008

Number of pages: 455

ISBN: 9780798149938

Summary: Heartfruit is both a sweeping saga and a revisionist 'farm novel'. It traces the story of a South African fruit farm and the farm's transition from a traditional white-held ownership to a new dispensation of collective ownership (where the traditional roles of worker and landowner are redefined) and explores the economic relationships and legal issues surrounding farming and the export of fruit from South Africa. The story stretches from the 1970's to approximately the turn of the 20th century. The novel begins with Izak, the main male protagonist, a fruit farmer travelling in Europe in search of funding and new markets, here at the end of the 1990's. The latter half of this decade has seen the opening up of trade for individual growers and agents in South Africa to access international markets, without governmental control through the old Marketing Board system. He has an accident in the home of his estranged brother in Holland, whereby he lands up in hospital. Here he has time to reflect and consider his private history as well as his future and the fragile prospects of the new farm structure he has implemented. In essence the novel speaks of a broader human experience of loss and guilt as well as the struggle to reach out and build relationships. The title of the novel is derived from the common name of the tree Hymenocardia acida, which is a tree indigenous to Southern Africa. The fruit of the tree is in the shape of a deeply indented heart, turning red and conspicuous when mature. In African culture, the fresh leaves, which are also believed to have medicinal qualities, are placed in the roof of a house to protect it from lightning. HeartFruit is an enchanting, gripping novel by an exciting new author.

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