kaffertjie - a love story

Source - Sunday Independent: Books Page It reads "`kaffertjie,' by Johan Engelbrecht is a provocatively titled novelization of a most remarkable true story. The writer's childless aunt and uncle - he was a West Rand Conservative Party councilor in the 1980s - took their helper's infant into their doting care when she became permanently institutionalized. The title is eponymous, and is meant to capture the contradictions in this story of love, devotion and (fortunately brief) betrayal across the chasms of racial ignorance and stupidity. The book is already making waves in its Afrikaans appearance. Now is the time to write honest stories about Apartheid. So many books from this era are filled with self-pity, but this book doesn't have a trace of it. It is written with so much insight that it takes you right back to that time, as well as taking you back to connecting with your own heart."