Other secrets

By Farida Karodia

2000

First Published

3.88

Average Rating

450

Number of Pages

13H40M

Audio Length

This is a story of an Indian family living in a small Afrikaner town in South Africa during and after the apartheid years. In this sensitively written story the novel explores the complex relationships between mothers and daughters and the peripheral role of a principled, hard-working father whose only fault is his futile optimism that life for them would improve.Through the eyes of Meena, the younger sister, the novel traces the lives of the sisters in South Africa during the apartheid era. Stifled by the constraints of their culture, the small town mentality, and the oppressive restrictions of apartheid, the older sister Yasmin escapes to England. She is followed later by Meena. Yasmin ultimately pays a tremendous price for success while Meena, the more spiritual and sensitive sister, struggles with her own demons. Yasmin and Meena return to South Africa following the end of apartheid.Other Secrets focuses closely on the relationship between three generations of women amidst the political upheaval of twentieth century South Africa. It also offers us an insight into the lives of Indian Muslims. Although Indians have been in South Africa for centuries, their presence has not been given much importance in a racial conflict that has unfolded across black and white lines. Further, the experiences of a Muslim girl and her struggle against the demands of patriarchy and religion gives readers a nuanced understanding of the religion as it is practiced among Indians in South Africa.

Avg Rating

3.88

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

25%

4 STARS

38%

3 STARS

38%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Farida Karodia

Author · 5 books

Farida Karoida was born in the eastern Cape province, a location that inspired the setting for her first novel, Daughters of Twilight (1986). She taught in Johannesburg, South Africa, Zambia, Swaziland. In 1968 the government of South Africa withdrew her passport. Facing forced interment in South Africa, she emigrated to Canada. She remained there, where she published her first novel and wrote in multiple mediums, including film, television, and CBC radio dramas. She returned to South Africa in 1994. She now works as a free-lance writer and divides her time between Canada and South Africa. Her first novel was Daughters of the Twilight was published in 1986, and was a runner up for the Fawcett Literature Prize. Although she was living in Canada at the time, the book concerns what difficulties non-whites faced in getting an education under apartheid. However by 1990 she had also written about Canada. Further during time spent in India in 1991 she wrote and filmed Midnight Embers. Her novel A Shattering of Silence (1993), set during the Mozambique civil war, follows Faith, the daughter of Canadian missionaries, after the murder of her parents. Against an African Sky and Other Stories (1994) was one of her first works after she returned to South Africa.In 2000, her novel Other Secrets was nominated for an IMPAC Dublin Award. Nor have her novels set in Africa focused only on South Africa. Boundaries (2003)focuses on the return of three women to a small South African town, Vlenterhoek (from Wikipedia)