Far and Beyon' - Softcover

Dow, Unity

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1876756071 ISBN 13: 9781876756079

Publisher: Spinifex Press, 2012

Synopsis

A family in modern Botswana is wracked by losses from AIDS and caught in the tension of a society divided between ancient traditions and beliefs and Western thought with white influences. Single parent Mara feels the urgency of holding on to her community’s faith in ancient magic when she worries her family is threatened by a curse. Her 17-year-old daughter Mosa faces different kinds of threats as she seeks to rally her fellow female students to speak out against the sexual abuse they face in school and society at large. The only remaining son in the family, Stan, is torn between how he was raised and the opportunities for his future provided by his white teachers and the education system. A stirring novel about individuals struggling to define themselves as well as their family, this is an unforgettable glimpse into modern African culture and the challenges of balancing history against the hope of progress.

About this title

About the Author:

Unity Dow is Botswana’s first female high-court judge and the author of The Heavens May Fall, Juggling Truths, and The Screaming of the Innocent. She is a cofounder of the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Project and is a member of International Women's Rights Action Watch, an advocacy organization.

From Booklist:

Gr. 9-12. Botswana's first female High Court judge draws on her experience in the women's rights struggle to tell a searing story of a contemporary family in southern Africa. The focus is on Mora, 17, who has seen two brothers die of AIDS within the last year. Mora, who dropped out of school when she became pregnant and had an abortion, is now back in class, determined to get "far and beyon'" the traditional role of women stuck at home. Her single-parent mom helps her break free, as does her brother, who lives with a white teacher's family and learns foreign ways. Dow neither romanticizes nor demonizes the ancestral tradition. As only an insider can, she shows the ignorance, the abuse, and the corruption of power as well as the richness of extended family and community, and the dynamic roots that give Mora her strength. In a dramatic confrontation, Mora organizes her friends to end the sexual abuse by several teachers in her school. It's a victory that will move teens everywhere who feel silenced by powerful authority. Adults will want to read this, too. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Spinifex Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1876756071
• ISBN 13: 9781876756079
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 199