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    The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena
    Unavailable
    The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena
    Unavailable
    The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena
    Ebook456 pages9 hours

    The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena

    By Elsa Joubert

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Poppie Nongena’s arduous journey covers 40 years of South Africa’s history, sweeping through the riots of Sharpeville, Soweto and Cape Town, on to an indefinite but unpromising future. The plot reflects the brutality and injustice of the Apartheid system, while Elsa Joubert’s characterisations reflects the courage and fortitude of people in the face of hardship and difficulty.

    Poppie’s contented childhood in the Cape’s countryside came to an end when she married a migrant worker, and was forced by the authorities to move with him and their young family to the unfamiliar and bewildering city of Cape Town.

    No sooner had she established her roots in the new township, when the laws changed and she was informed of her obligation to relocate to the Ciskei, her husband’s homeland. He, as a migrant worker, was permitted to remain in the Cape to work.

    Over a ten-year period, Poppie fought the heinous ‘pass law’ system, winning limited extensions to the permit that would allow her to live and work in Cape Town and enable her to keep the family together and provide an education for her children.

    Her own anger was shared by thousands and inevitably the brooding undercurrent of discontent exploded throughout South Africa. Suddenly, there were no further extensions. Poppie and her children were forcibly removed from their home and ‘resettled’ in a new township, hundreds of miles away near East London.

    The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena is an epic tale of the endless adversity and struggle of a humble black woman under Apartheid laws. Poppie emerges from being a simple country girl to becoming an archetypal heroine of South Africa.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJonathan Ball
    Release dateOct 20, 2019
    ISBN9781868429776
    Unavailable
    The Long Journey of Poppie Nongena
    Author

    Elsa Joubert

    Elsa Joubert is op 19 Oktober 1922 in die Paarl gebore. Sy wen die WA Hofmeyr-, CNA- en Louis Luyt-prys vir haar invloedryke roman Die swerfjare van Poppie Nongena (1978). Haar magistrale roman Die reise van Isobelle (1995) is met die Hertzog-prys bekroon.

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    • 4/5
      This book is translated from the Afrikaans, the original title being "Die Swerfjare van Poppie Nongena". It is the story of a humble black woman who never gives up, never gives in. Poppie Nongena is not just a sad story however, it is the story of an African Mother Courage. It is a remarkable book and well deserves its place as one of the great classics of South African literature of the apartheid era.