#BookReview: Time of the Swallows
This is a relevant, heart-wrenching novel with which many students could identify, and would fit well into a reading scheme.
Local author Dianne Stewart’s latest book is a novel for young adults set in Stanger and Ballito, titled ‘Time of the Swallows’.
Fifteen-year-old Anele lives with parents and sibling on a sugarcane farm outside Stanger.
The Dlaminis are a hard-working family: her father is a farm manager, her mother works long hours at a conference centre and her sister, although heavily pregnant, rushes to fulfil orders at a bag-making concern.
Apart from the usual pursuits and responsibilities of a teenage schoolgirl, Anele there are other, more pressing concerns that catapult Anele into adulthood: the loss of her father’s beloved dog, Nja, and the suspicious behaviour of her sister’s partner, Brian, a travelling salesman among them.
Although this novel is profoundly moving as Stewart’s characters negotiate some of life’s serious problems, the author does not leave them – or her readers – without hope, and the touches of humour add pathos to the story.
The swallows themselves – their arrival, their nesting and departure – hold symbolic significance, while issues such as rural crime, HIV/Aids and land ownership are weaved seamlessly into the storyline.
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