Description

Sindiwe Magona

When the Village Sleeps is a visionary novel about what the loss of identity and dignity do to a people afflicted by decades of brokenness. Told through the lives and spirits of four generations of amaTolo women, including the Old, who speak wisdom with ever-increasing urgency, it moves between the bustling township setting of Kwanele and the different thythms of rural village life. It recalls the sweeping sagas of the great A.C. Jordan and the Dhomo brothers and invokes the poetry of S.E.K. Mghayi, while boldly exploring urgent and contemporary issues. An ode to the complex strengths of South African women, When the Village Sleeps is also a powerful call to respect the earth that nurtures human life, and to live in self-sufficiency and harmony with the environment and each other.