Walk

by James Whyle

The true and epic story of a boy’s survival in the face of impossible odds, Walk tells of a deadly scramble down the wild coastline of what is present-day South Africa. This length of coastline is a hike that every South African should have the privilege of taking. But for the survivors of the wreck of the Grosvenor, as they clambered onto the rocks on August 5, 1782, they might as well have crash-landed on Mars. The shipwrecked decided to walk to the Cape of Good Hope, though their ordeal starting at Lambasi in northern Pondoland ended in the dune deserts not far from what is now known as Port Elizabeth—for those few who survived it. William Hubberly, a young man and servant to the Grosvenor’s second mate William Shaw, was one of them. Walk takes the reader step by step, day by day on Hubberly’s horrific trek. While indisputably fiction, this work sails a good deal closer to the historical truth and is a haunting parable on the meeting of Europe and Africa.

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2013

About the author

James Whyle grew up in the Amatole Mountains of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Conscripted into the apartheid army, he was discharged on the grounds of insanity. He did everything in his power to assist the authorities in arriving at this diagnosis.

His story, The Story, was chosen by JM Coetzee as winner of the 2011 Pen/Studzinski competition. The Book of War, a novel, won the M-Net Lit Prize for best debut in 2012.

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Reviews

[James Whyle]

From the reviews:

"Walk is a riveting insight into one of South Africa’s most notorious seafaring disasters, and a fascinating look into the things we'll do when desperately trying to find a way home."
The Oprah Magazine

"...things just happen, one after the other like feet walking, and the sand and salt scour away symbolism and significance until what's left is a brutal poetry of indifference, another verse of a violent song of a violent land, neither consoling nor too pessimistic. Whyle's writing... generates hard beauty."
Darrel Bristow-Bovey, TimesLive

"...the terse economy of the prose propels you into its relentless rhythm from the start... This is a remarkable piece of writing."
Jenny de Klerk, Saturday Star.

"A little gem of a book... from a significant writer with an instantly recognisable voice. Please read it."
Jenny Crwys Williams

"Five stars because I simply couldn't put it down."
Ray Hartley, GoodReads.

"This small gem deserves a place on the bookshelves of serious readers; a cherished fragment, unpretentious and incomplete, it creates an enduring set of images..."
Jane Rosenthal, Mail & Guardian.

"...transforms written history into literature... They become not just names, but characters. In short, Walk is an impeccably crafted literary masterpiece."
Daily News

[Ray Hartley · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Whyle's The Book of War was a brilliant debut and he has followed it up with another great read. Walk, the story of the survivors of the Grosvenor, wrecked off the Eastern Cape coast is compelling. Whyle's unique use of language and turn of phrase seems to place you back in time alongside the survivors. The focus is on "the boy", a youngster who out-lives his companions and attempts to make it back to safety. The encounters between the European survivors and the local Xhosa people are told without judgment. To the Xhosa, who have just begun to engage in the brutal frontier wars over their territory to the east, the interlopers are a threat and are treated with contempt, but not by all. As they progress down the coast, they encounter others more tolerant. To the Europeans, the locals, daubed in red clay and brandishing stones or spears, are terrifying. Whyle has the discipline to resist the temptation to impose politically correct commentary on this encounter. It is what it is. Five stars because I simply couldn't put it down.

[Christopher Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Burned through this in a single, two hour sitting.