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Finding Soutbek
The focal point of the novel is the small town of Soutbek. Its troubles, hardships and corruption, but also its kindness, strong community and friendships, are introduced to us in a series of stories about intriguingly interlinked relationships.
Contemporary Soutbek is still a divided town – the upper town destitute, and the lower town rich, largely ignorant – and through a series of vivid scenes, the troubled relationship between Pieter Fortuin, the town’s first coloured mayor, and his wife Anna is revealed.
In so many ways the past casts a long shadow over the present, not in the least through the unreliable diaries of Pieter Meerman promoted by Pieter Fortuin and Professor Pearson, a retired white historian. They give us a unique insight into the lives of the seventeenth-century Dutch explorers, and hint at a utopian society, suggesting that Soutbek is the birthplace of assimilation and integration.
The blossoming friendship between Anna, Sara, a foundling, and Willem, Pieter Fortuin’s nephew, is unsettled by David, Anna’s and Pieter’s son. His father has bought David a bright future, but when he comes back from boarding school David appears alienated from his father and from his old friend, the former gardener Charles Geduld, just as Anna starts to accept him as her son.
Is there hope, or are we left with Willem’s conclusion that ‘he would spend the rest of his life working off the debt of his family’s poverty’?
A wonderful, moving story that keeps you spellbound, yet also paints a thought-provoking picture of life in contemporary South Africa.
Contemporary Soutbek is still a divided town – the upper town destitute, and the lower town rich, largely ignorant – and through a series of vivid scenes, the troubled relationship between Pieter Fortuin, the town’s first coloured mayor, and his wife Anna is revealed.
In so many ways the past casts a long shadow over the present, not in the least through the unreliable diaries of Pieter Meerman promoted by Pieter Fortuin and Professor Pearson, a retired white historian. They give us a unique insight into the lives of the seventeenth-century Dutch explorers, and hint at a utopian society, suggesting that Soutbek is the birthplace of assimilation and integration.
The blossoming friendship between Anna, Sara, a foundling, and Willem, Pieter Fortuin’s nephew, is unsettled by David, Anna’s and Pieter’s son. His father has bought David a bright future, but when he comes back from boarding school David appears alienated from his father and from his old friend, the former gardener Charles Geduld, just as Anna starts to accept him as her son.
Is there hope, or are we left with Willem’s conclusion that ‘he would spend the rest of his life working off the debt of his family’s poverty’?
A wonderful, moving story that keeps you spellbound, yet also paints a thought-provoking picture of life in contemporary South Africa.
- GenresAfricaSouth Africa
173 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2012
8 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Karen Jennings
39 books145 followersKaren Jennings is a South African writer based in Cape Town. She works in the History Department at the University of Stellenbosch, and particularly on the “Biography of an Uncharted People” project. Her debut American novel, An Island, was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 2, 2012
[Disclaimer: Karen and I were really good friends when we were young.]
This was incredible. It's the best South African novel (and novel about South Africa) that I've read to date. It's a moving story that includes a fair amount of social commentary. I've been to the area of the West Coast that is the setting of Soutbek, I see the poverty and despair of people every day. And what do I do? I try not to think about it, I avoid it because it's painful and immense and the little I can do for other people is too little to have any real affect on things. And yet, if everyone did a little every day, where would we be? This is a thought-provoking novel that will remain with me for some time. I also liked the theme of revisionist history - something that is all too common here. And yet, history is written by the victors and is inevitably subjective in ways we may not realise.
This is a book that all South Africans should read.
This was incredible. It's the best South African novel (and novel about South Africa) that I've read to date. It's a moving story that includes a fair amount of social commentary. I've been to the area of the West Coast that is the setting of Soutbek, I see the poverty and despair of people every day. And what do I do? I try not to think about it, I avoid it because it's painful and immense and the little I can do for other people is too little to have any real affect on things. And yet, if everyone did a little every day, where would we be? This is a thought-provoking novel that will remain with me for some time. I also liked the theme of revisionist history - something that is all too common here. And yet, history is written by the victors and is inevitably subjective in ways we may not realise.
This is a book that all South Africans should read.
January 6, 2014
Soutbek is a small (imaginary) fishing town on the western coast of the Cape, many miles north of Cape Town.
Much of the novel "Finding Soutbek" consists of two interwoven parallel narratives. One of these, set in post-Apartheid South Africa, deals with the consequences of a huge fire that has devastated much of one part of the town, leaving most of its inhabitants destitute and homeless and dependent on the charity of the unscathed inhabitants of the other part of Soutbek. Episodes of this story are alternated with episodes of a story set in the 17th century. This part of the tale is written as though it was a true historical account.
Th 17th century part of the novel is concerned with describing the adventures of a band of Dutch explorers who are seeking their fortunes in the wilds far from Cape Town, and without the blessings of the Dutch East India Company that rules the Dutch settlement in the Cape of Good Hope. This story reads like a well-written historical account, but appearances can be deceptive...
Both the contemporary and the historical strands of this novel are well-written, intriguing, and make for a good page-turner. For much of the book, I was kept wondering how these two strands of narrative would merge, as I felt that they ought to do. Eventually, they merge, but in a way that surprised me. The merging of these two tales has serious and tragic consequences for the inhabitants of Soutbek, particularly for those who have lost their homes and livelihoods. But, to reveal more would risk spoiling this splendid book for potential readers.
The novel shows signs of serious research and even includes a list of the sources used by the author. Unlike many novels where the research often dominates the story telling, Ms Jennings uses it skilfully and ensures that fact blends seamlessly with fiction. I strongly recommend this unusual but tragic novel to everyone, and look forward to reading the author's next work of fiction. Ms Jennings is a fine story teller and deserves a wide readership.
Much of the novel "Finding Soutbek" consists of two interwoven parallel narratives. One of these, set in post-Apartheid South Africa, deals with the consequences of a huge fire that has devastated much of one part of the town, leaving most of its inhabitants destitute and homeless and dependent on the charity of the unscathed inhabitants of the other part of Soutbek. Episodes of this story are alternated with episodes of a story set in the 17th century. This part of the tale is written as though it was a true historical account.
Th 17th century part of the novel is concerned with describing the adventures of a band of Dutch explorers who are seeking their fortunes in the wilds far from Cape Town, and without the blessings of the Dutch East India Company that rules the Dutch settlement in the Cape of Good Hope. This story reads like a well-written historical account, but appearances can be deceptive...
Both the contemporary and the historical strands of this novel are well-written, intriguing, and make for a good page-turner. For much of the book, I was kept wondering how these two strands of narrative would merge, as I felt that they ought to do. Eventually, they merge, but in a way that surprised me. The merging of these two tales has serious and tragic consequences for the inhabitants of Soutbek, particularly for those who have lost their homes and livelihoods. But, to reveal more would risk spoiling this splendid book for potential readers.
The novel shows signs of serious research and even includes a list of the sources used by the author. Unlike many novels where the research often dominates the story telling, Ms Jennings uses it skilfully and ensures that fact blends seamlessly with fiction. I strongly recommend this unusual but tragic novel to everyone, and look forward to reading the author's next work of fiction. Ms Jennings is a fine story teller and deserves a wide readership.
January 23, 2014
Shortlisted for the 1st Etisalat Prize for Literature
The focal point of the novel is the small town of Soutbek. Its troubles, hardships and corruption, but also its kindness, strong community and friendships, are introduced to us in a series of stories about intriguingly interlinked relationships.
Contemporary Soutbek is still a divided town – the upper town destitute, and the lower town rich, largely ignorant – and Finding Soutbek is a novel about the real conditions that shape the lives of ordinary, marginalised people.
Karen Jennings’ focus on the quiet but necessary heroism of the poor and disadvantaged makes her work universal.
Through a series of vivid scenes, the troubled relationship between Pieter Fortuin, the town’s first coloured mayor, and his wife Anna is revealed. It straddles different worlds, just like the two parts of Soutbek.
In so many ways the past casts a long shadow over the present, and Karen handles this beautifully; for example, with this remark about the questionable historian and unlikely collaborator of Pieter Fortuin, professor Terence Pearson: ‘He had moulded the past into a suitable present, giving people historical proof of what they already believed.’ Or this one about Willem, the mayor’s nephew: ‘Through his reading Willem began to see the past as a machine. It ate people as it went, ingesting the land, leaving nothing for the weak, the poor.’
The past is introduced through scenes from the unreliable diaries of Pieter Meerman, promoted by Fortuin and Professor Pearson. They give us a unique insight into the lives of the seventeenth-century Dutch explorers associated with the VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, United East India Company) and hint at a utopian society, suggesting that Soutbek is the birthplace of assimilation and integration – a popular story.
Finding Soutbek is a remarkable book about contemporary South Africa.
The focal point of the novel is the small town of Soutbek. Its troubles, hardships and corruption, but also its kindness, strong community and friendships, are introduced to us in a series of stories about intriguingly interlinked relationships.
Contemporary Soutbek is still a divided town – the upper town destitute, and the lower town rich, largely ignorant – and Finding Soutbek is a novel about the real conditions that shape the lives of ordinary, marginalised people.
Karen Jennings’ focus on the quiet but necessary heroism of the poor and disadvantaged makes her work universal.
Through a series of vivid scenes, the troubled relationship between Pieter Fortuin, the town’s first coloured mayor, and his wife Anna is revealed. It straddles different worlds, just like the two parts of Soutbek.
In so many ways the past casts a long shadow over the present, and Karen handles this beautifully; for example, with this remark about the questionable historian and unlikely collaborator of Pieter Fortuin, professor Terence Pearson: ‘He had moulded the past into a suitable present, giving people historical proof of what they already believed.’ Or this one about Willem, the mayor’s nephew: ‘Through his reading Willem began to see the past as a machine. It ate people as it went, ingesting the land, leaving nothing for the weak, the poor.’
The past is introduced through scenes from the unreliable diaries of Pieter Meerman, promoted by Fortuin and Professor Pearson. They give us a unique insight into the lives of the seventeenth-century Dutch explorers associated with the VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, United East India Company) and hint at a utopian society, suggesting that Soutbek is the birthplace of assimilation and integration – a popular story.
Finding Soutbek is a remarkable book about contemporary South Africa.
July 27, 2025
absolutely devastating.
August 28, 2020
This is Jennings’ first novel, but she has written and published poetry and short stories, winning both the Maskew Miller Longman Award in 2009 and the Commonwealth Short Story Competition‘s Africa Region prize in 2010.
I enjoyed Finding Soutbek. It’s an ambitious, layered novel that switches between the 17th century and the present in a small, remote community in South Africa, the fictitious Soutbek in an area called Namaqualand. The town comprises two groups of people, the upper-towners and the lower-towners. In a neat reversal of expectations, the upper-towners are the poor, the under-class, who at the novel’s opening, have just been hit by a fire for the second time in a reasonably short period. The novel tells the story of what happens in the town after this fire, interspersed with chapters from The History of Soutbek, written by the Mayor and a local Professor, about the community’s founding in the 17th century. This history presents the town as having utopian origins, based on “communal living, sharing and acceptance”.
The novel’s main characters are this Mayor and his wife Anna, the destitute teenage girl Sara who appears in the town at the beginning of the novel and is reluctantly taken in by the Mayor, and Willem who lives in the upper town but who also happens to be the Mayor’s nephew. Jennings explores the relationships between these (and other) characters as the Mayor, the town’s first coloured mayor in fact, struggles to achieve his personal goals in a climate that seems to stall him at every step. The potential benefits of The History are undermined by the post-fire chaos in the upper town. For my full review, please check my blog: https://whisperinggums.com/2012/10/03...
I enjoyed Finding Soutbek. It’s an ambitious, layered novel that switches between the 17th century and the present in a small, remote community in South Africa, the fictitious Soutbek in an area called Namaqualand. The town comprises two groups of people, the upper-towners and the lower-towners. In a neat reversal of expectations, the upper-towners are the poor, the under-class, who at the novel’s opening, have just been hit by a fire for the second time in a reasonably short period. The novel tells the story of what happens in the town after this fire, interspersed with chapters from The History of Soutbek, written by the Mayor and a local Professor, about the community’s founding in the 17th century. This history presents the town as having utopian origins, based on “communal living, sharing and acceptance”.
The novel’s main characters are this Mayor and his wife Anna, the destitute teenage girl Sara who appears in the town at the beginning of the novel and is reluctantly taken in by the Mayor, and Willem who lives in the upper town but who also happens to be the Mayor’s nephew. Jennings explores the relationships between these (and other) characters as the Mayor, the town’s first coloured mayor in fact, struggles to achieve his personal goals in a climate that seems to stall him at every step. The potential benefits of The History are undermined by the post-fire chaos in the upper town. For my full review, please check my blog: https://whisperinggums.com/2012/10/03...
August 1, 2020
With the recent attention in the US and Europe to the whitewashing of history, this 2012 novel couldn’t be more topical. While I enjoyed the history, politics and social justice theme immensely, I found the psychological threads a little loose in places. But don’t let that put you off!
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October 8, 2012
Although unremittingly grim, FINDING SOUTBEK is a delicate and intricate novel that juxtapositions a utopian ideal with the harsh reality of the new South Africa.
A fire strikes a devastating blow and destroys the poorest areas of Soutbek, a small West Coast village, increasing the hardship and suffering of the needy. The aftereffects also unravel the lives of its first "coloured" Mayor, Pieter Fortuin, his wife Anna and his nephew Willem. Contrasting this bleak reality of a dream gone sour is The History of Soutbek, a utopian vision of life in Soutbek, written by Pieter Fortuin and the dubious Dr Pearson, and based on the unreliable diaries of Pieter van Meerman, a vryburgher (free man) and seventeenth-century Dutch explorer.
This novel presents problems that are uniquely South African, but the themes running through the pages are universal issues such as power; the gap between the rich and the poor; and how the past affects both the present and the future, a burden one can never escape.
Willem, on reading his uncle's The History, comes to realise that history is only a record of "humans trying to rule other humans, taking the land and everything else for themselves." Governments might change, new promises made, but ultimately nothing changes for the poor and the oppressed:
"Had there not been enough of this sort of thing in the past? Forced removals; doctored histories? ...they saw that yet again they were to be denied the dignity of achievement."
A self-made man, Fortuin's powerful character dominates the story, even as he tries to dominate the land and the people who look to him for their survival and their future. Through his relationship with his wife Anna, his son David, his nephew Willem, his employees and the people of the town, Fortuin shines with the same hope that fills the pages of The History. His tragedy, and the overarching tragedy of this sad novel, is that the burden of history appears too vast to overcome on either a personal or a collective level. Any attempt Fortuin makes to change the course of history, however determined and well meaning, has devastating consequences.
This narrative heavy text is enriched with subtle ironies (the poorest part of town is called "the upper town," while the rich part is "the lower town," a neat reversal of expectations) and vivid metaphors (the Mayor has part of the beach cordoned off to protect his wife, even as he separates himself from the very part of society into which he was born.) The solemn pace effectively mirrors the unhurried rhythm of life in a small rural town, as well as the slow but inevitable crumbling of the hopes and dreams of the people of Soutbek:
"They felt only a sharp recognition of what it was to have days and months pass without pause, without any pause; recognition of what it was to be led towards hope and then denied."
Jennings' sensitive and thought-provoking writing is exquisitely painful; with quiet authority, she reflects the reality of present day South Africa. As I live in South Africa, her melancholy vision is a truth I can't deny. I do, however, contest the sense of utter hopelessness underpinning FINDING SOUTBEK.
Throughout the story, there is little or no allowance made for the eternal resilience of the human spirit, that indefinable "something" that has seen humankind muddle through its own messes for millennia after millennia:
"Something akin to pride had been returned to them, for they bore now a hope of shelter, and, though the word was not common to them, they felt themselves moving towards civilisation"
Perhaps the burden of the recent past was too heavy for Pieter Fortuin to translate successfully into the ideal Utopia he so bravely tried to create in his The History of Soutbek.
But his failure is not as desolate as it is portrayed.
Despite its record of our failures, history has also proven that hope lingers in the human spirit. That hope holds out the chance, however fragile, that we can forge a new and better world for ourselves. Someday, somehow, out of the detritus of the past and present suffering that surrounds us, that "same spirit of generosity and enthusiasm which united such a diverse array of people in the common goal of a better life" will rise again.
Pieter Fortuin tried and failed to create that better life. Perhaps those who follow him, like Gershwin Geduld, will drown in the swamp of suffering. But some people, like Anna and Sara and Willem, will endure. From within that very endurance of all the miseries that life holds for them, hope will once more be born. For to be human is to hope. And, with hope, the future can offer another chance that, one day, we will find a Utopia, perhaps even one called Soutbek.
****
DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of FINDING SOUTBEK for review from the publisher. However, I only review books on condition that both publisher and author accept that my review is honest, unbiased and based only on the quality of the text as I experience it.
****
A fire strikes a devastating blow and destroys the poorest areas of Soutbek, a small West Coast village, increasing the hardship and suffering of the needy. The aftereffects also unravel the lives of its first "coloured" Mayor, Pieter Fortuin, his wife Anna and his nephew Willem. Contrasting this bleak reality of a dream gone sour is The History of Soutbek, a utopian vision of life in Soutbek, written by Pieter Fortuin and the dubious Dr Pearson, and based on the unreliable diaries of Pieter van Meerman, a vryburgher (free man) and seventeenth-century Dutch explorer.
This novel presents problems that are uniquely South African, but the themes running through the pages are universal issues such as power; the gap between the rich and the poor; and how the past affects both the present and the future, a burden one can never escape.
Willem, on reading his uncle's The History, comes to realise that history is only a record of "humans trying to rule other humans, taking the land and everything else for themselves." Governments might change, new promises made, but ultimately nothing changes for the poor and the oppressed:
"Had there not been enough of this sort of thing in the past? Forced removals; doctored histories? ...they saw that yet again they were to be denied the dignity of achievement."
A self-made man, Fortuin's powerful character dominates the story, even as he tries to dominate the land and the people who look to him for their survival and their future. Through his relationship with his wife Anna, his son David, his nephew Willem, his employees and the people of the town, Fortuin shines with the same hope that fills the pages of The History. His tragedy, and the overarching tragedy of this sad novel, is that the burden of history appears too vast to overcome on either a personal or a collective level. Any attempt Fortuin makes to change the course of history, however determined and well meaning, has devastating consequences.
This narrative heavy text is enriched with subtle ironies (the poorest part of town is called "the upper town," while the rich part is "the lower town," a neat reversal of expectations) and vivid metaphors (the Mayor has part of the beach cordoned off to protect his wife, even as he separates himself from the very part of society into which he was born.) The solemn pace effectively mirrors the unhurried rhythm of life in a small rural town, as well as the slow but inevitable crumbling of the hopes and dreams of the people of Soutbek:
"They felt only a sharp recognition of what it was to have days and months pass without pause, without any pause; recognition of what it was to be led towards hope and then denied."
Jennings' sensitive and thought-provoking writing is exquisitely painful; with quiet authority, she reflects the reality of present day South Africa. As I live in South Africa, her melancholy vision is a truth I can't deny. I do, however, contest the sense of utter hopelessness underpinning FINDING SOUTBEK.
Throughout the story, there is little or no allowance made for the eternal resilience of the human spirit, that indefinable "something" that has seen humankind muddle through its own messes for millennia after millennia:
"Something akin to pride had been returned to them, for they bore now a hope of shelter, and, though the word was not common to them, they felt themselves moving towards civilisation"
Perhaps the burden of the recent past was too heavy for Pieter Fortuin to translate successfully into the ideal Utopia he so bravely tried to create in his The History of Soutbek.
But his failure is not as desolate as it is portrayed.
Despite its record of our failures, history has also proven that hope lingers in the human spirit. That hope holds out the chance, however fragile, that we can forge a new and better world for ourselves. Someday, somehow, out of the detritus of the past and present suffering that surrounds us, that "same spirit of generosity and enthusiasm which united such a diverse array of people in the common goal of a better life" will rise again.
Pieter Fortuin tried and failed to create that better life. Perhaps those who follow him, like Gershwin Geduld, will drown in the swamp of suffering. But some people, like Anna and Sara and Willem, will endure. From within that very endurance of all the miseries that life holds for them, hope will once more be born. For to be human is to hope. And, with hope, the future can offer another chance that, one day, we will find a Utopia, perhaps even one called Soutbek.
****
DISCLAIMER: I received a free copy of FINDING SOUTBEK for review from the publisher. However, I only review books on condition that both publisher and author accept that my review is honest, unbiased and based only on the quality of the text as I experience it.
****
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August 3, 2013Picked this up in the Book Lounge while in Cape Town this May
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews