Book Blurb:
Harvest of Fear is a gripping historical novel that brings to life a family, a farm, and a racial war – in Africa.
Johan Steenkamp brings ardent, impetuous Marie home to his flourishing farm in Rhodesia. There is a leopard roaming the bush and, more disturbingly, political unrest among the African population. Johan soon discovers that his young wife has a shameful secret and, as well, the spirit to oppose his prejudiced opinions. Her fortitude, however, wins the admiration, and attraction, of his astute younger brother, Paul.
When Rhodesia declares independence from Britain in 1965, the brothers are caught up in the internationally condemned war in defence of their farm. With each stint in the Security Forces the family dynamics shift and intensify – to harshness – to infatuation. In panoramic, authentic descriptions of the African bush and farm life, Marie is left alone and overwhelmed as Shona farmworkers disappear to join the freedom fighters and women of both races face terror in the night.
In 1980, Margaret Thatcher’s government negotiates independence – a free Zimbabwe. But how can a man and a woman hold on to hope and love after a heartbreaking loss? Tension mounts as the farm is threatened and Africans and whites struggle to survive in a country sinking under a corrupt dictatorship.
Book Buy Link: https://mybook.to/harvestoffear
Author Bio:
Anna Cienska grew up in South Africa. She married and moved to Zimbabwe where she raised a young family in Mhangura (Mangula) during the first years of the war of independence. Anna attended fiction writing courses at Carleton University, joined Ottawa Independent Writers, and is a member of Victoria Creative Writers Group. She was inspired to write Harvest of Fear to impartially depict the events that brought down this once-thriving country.
She is an editor of non-fiction manuscripts.
Anna lives in Victoria, British Columbia, and has a family home in France.
Editorial Review:
A desire for change in these ferocious times could burn up a life, put it out like a match.
**
On a slope stretching away from the river, stood Leopard Kloof, the white house of the Steenkamp farm from which he had come. Taciturn old baas Steenkamp, like the British plunderer Rhodes, could appropriate, allocate, and stamp a name on this land, but today both were in their graves. Land is relentless in its taking back, he recalled his father's words. So must we be. Enduring as land.
The Steenkamps had a farm in Africa in the vast sprawling lands of Zimbabwe. With hints of Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa, this book tells the story of an Afrikaan family living among the painful birth pains of a country seeking independent rule from Britain. Apartheid and white rule, the gift of democracy to these traditional tribal lands and people, instead of bringing peace and prosperity brought a cruel separation as the prosperous farms enriched the whites as the black population sank further into poverty. Brothers Johan and Paul Steenkamp lived and breathed the land... loved the land... and determined to fight for their land as factions of unrest from terrorist groups flocked together with one thought – to bring an end to white rule and to take back their country. The farms in their sights were in danger and many whites fled the country.
But this story, this deep literary voice, reaches further into the soul as the author unfurls the politics of the land and mingles the necessary historical aspects into the very personal lives of Johan and Paul... and their love of not only the land, but of the same woman... Marie. (Another sensational nod to “Legends of the Fall”)
“I'll defend it to the death.”
She paused. “Is it that simple, then? If you have something you would die for, it keeps everything straight in your life?”
“No. I don't think it's that simple.” The conversation had turned serious. “Mainly, because death is not your decision. Love works better as a beacon when you're looking for guidance.” Johan couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. Love at Leopard Kloof was inferred, but never spoken.
“And you,” she said, “love your farm.”
Johan is passionate about never leaving his farm, Leopard Kloof, and after marrying Marie, they raise their family in the midst of the fiery chaos around them. They form strong friendships with some of the Africans, some of whom are their workers, and witness horrific injustices wrought from both sides. While Johan and Paul join up in fighting the terrorists, leaving Marie at home to find her own way, her own voice, and to protect the children, the nation erupts into full-out chaos. Farms burn, people are murdered, and fear reigns. And yet the beauty of Africa, in the people's faces, the passion in their hearts for the land and their customs, flows through this narrative like much-needed rain in a dry land. You can taste the red dirt; you can feel the scorching sun and hear the throaty growl of the stalking leopard... and the love beating in the hearts of each and every character. It is always a tell-tale sign of remarkable brilliance when a reviewer has pages and pages of notes and passages to pull from to try to relay how incredible a novel is and how the author created a work of art... a masterpiece.
Yet – he sat in the open Jeep as the rasp of insects rose with the musk of warming earth and sorrow for his father flowed out from him over his father's land. Not for the first time, he became conscious of the incredible beauty of this country where aridness could be transposed into splendour by a change of light, a shower of rain, a vision of immense distances.
The history of South Africa, of Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, the children born after the second Boer war, and the offspring of those who followed Cecil Rhodes's vision of a democratic Africa (which had more to do with his own vision of a land of diamonds to fill pockets), is not a story which is often told. Ms Cienska delivers on all counts with this novel, providing enough historical facts to be very educational for those who know nothing about the struggle, while using said facts as padding surrounding the very real story of this complex family. This book is a textbook on how to write historical fiction and is a classic in the making. From a reader's standpoint, however, one slight caveat might be the need for a glossary for those not familiar with African or Afrikaan verbiage, yet even in that... after a while of reading, the unfamiliar words do take on a meaning and you start getting a sense of what they actually mean and in no way does the lack of a glossary take away from the astounding narrative. As a reviewer, it is not often the case when you feel like the author's own words do more to show the beauty of a book than any words the reviewer can say... but with that said, the following passages give a glimpse into the soul of this book, urging the reader of this review to add this book to their to-read stack immediately.
Just as Africa reached deep into Karen Blixen's heart and soul in her own book, Out of Africa, this one reveals the depth of Anna Cienska's love for the country. When an author's love is woven into the story, the result is pure and utter brilliance. Bravo, Ms Cienska, bravo!!
“But the boss and the officers are always white. There's an unspoken contract, you know, between those in power and those without, who are always vastly more numerous. Once the law is seen as unjust or as favouring the rulers to the detriment of the population, civil disobedience, the action of the people like Mandela, becomes justified. We shouldn't make the mistake of underestimating Africans as incapable of taking charge of their destinies.”
**
She wandered down the streets of her former student nights; of skin-tight jeans and boyfriends and reckless, never-ending time; of summer air backlit by neon, pungent with the aroma of car exhausts and grilled steak; of guitars in every coffee bar. To demonstrate their abhorrence of apartheid, no British or American rock bands toured safe, 'white by night', Cape Town or Johannesburg, let alone Pretoria. Which was just fine with the government. No liberalism to pollute young minds. Mild protest songs were insolently twanged and hummed. Crushed up against the walls, casually dressed Special Branch thugs waved away cappucinos as though the froth contained some free-thinking contaminant that should be banned. Elvis had it right. Marie thought as a singer bayed into the marijuana-fragrant smoke. You go along studying, making love, eating peaches, then – whang – that crash of guitar strings and it's Heartbreak Hotel.
**
“No, you do not understand.” It was Newman's turn to be emphatic. “the midzimu always foretell the truth. White people have strong medicine for the body but you have no knowledge of the spirit. I was in the mission school. I know your government does not practice democracy because the majority of people cannot vote. I know your religion, and I know you do not practice the Christianity of Jesus. I share my food. I remember the dead of my family. And I obey the customs of my people that you want me to give up. But I can ask, what good do you bring us?” He settled back in the seat. In a single swoop, he had laid out the hypocrisy of Western political tradition and of her Christian beliefs.
*****
“Harvest of Fear: a Story of Zimbabwe” by Anna Cienska receives five stars from The Historical Fiction Company and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence
Award:
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