Recessional for Grace

by Marguerite Poland

When a postgraduate student of African languages, looking for a topic for her doctoral thesis, happens upon an obscure and incomplete lexicon of metaphorical names for indigenous Sanga-Nguni cattle by a long-dead academic, she knows, instinctively, that she has found her subject.

302 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[David Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up a few years ago in Stellenbosch on the recommendation of Verbatim bookshop owner. Let it collect dust until last week when I found out why it had been recommended. As good as the best JM Coetsee I've read - a sort of unexpected fine detail - in this case, related to the colour of indigenous cattle.

[Martin Newlands · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Heart wrenching.

[Stephanie Muller]

Very poetic. Drawn out.

[CHRISTINE MACLEOD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this novel, most especially the references to the Zulu language. As one reviewer put it; Ëxquisitely textured".

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A student of African languages comes across an incomplete dictionary of African cattle terms, and decides to write on it for her doctoral thesis. As she does her research, however, she becomes more and more interested in the compiler, a Dr C.J. Godfrey, who died in 1963, and her research tends towards biography, which disconcerts her supervisor. She visits the place where he was born, and the school he attended, and the place where he did his research, and also becomes interested in his relationship with Mrs Grace Wilmot, a war widow and teacher at the local school, who assisted him in his research. The cattle and their names are
gradually revealed as a metaphor for love. The descriptions in the book range from very accurate to sloppily researched. Rural shops are described in evocative detail, but with the Methodist Church it is all wrong.

[C3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully evocative of place, time and emotion. I should probably read it again to absorb all that is embedded here.

[Nora Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating tale, again beautifully written.