One always comes back to praising the imagination and convincing ambience of the author of this work. This is a love story of massive proportions, and one gets the impression that the work can go on and on, such is the ingenuity of the author. It is also no surprise that other commentators have compared the (female) author, Ms Duman, to some of the greatest black African female writers of all time - the likes of Miriam Tlali, Emecheta, Dangarembga and Sindiwe Magona. The story moves slowly, quite slowly in the first part which is actually in consonance with the rustic background...it reminded me of some parts of Ayi Kwei Armah's 2000 Seasons which might appear tedious to some readers. Dikeledi, the female protagonist comes across as "sweet and good", to use a quaint, even naïve expression. She really is in love, and one salutes her fortitude and simplicity all along. The characterization here - having other characters, including whites, in mind - is very good, and we can see eg men thinking the way one would expect men to, many times, in this work. These days we are so used to modern technology, marvels of science, including social media - that a work like this, essentially with a rural landscape in mind, might look a bit strange, with a sense of bewilderment. But that would be a loss to young, modern African readers if they felt like this...after all, many, no, most of African literary classics have a rural background, as Achebe, Okara, Chukwuemeka Ike, Elechi Amadi, have delineated in their works over the decades. Kudos to NMM Duman for this work...
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