The Lost Language of the Soul: A Novel

by Mandla Langa

‘If I disappeared, I’d expect my children to search for me high and low. A mother disappearing goes against the laws of nature. Fathers disappear all the time; it’s their speciality.’

Joseph Mabaso is used to his father Sobhuza’s long absences from the family home in Lusaka. Sobhuza is a freedom fighter and doing important work, and Joseph has learned not to ask questions. But when Chanda, his mother, disappears without a trace, leaving him and his siblings alone, Joseph knows that something is terribly wrong.

And so begins a journey, physically arduous and dangerous and emotionally fraught, that no 14-year-old boy should have to undertake alone. Following the most tenuous of threads, Joseph finds some unlikely guides along the courageous Leila and her horses; Sis Violet and the guerrilla unit she commands; Mr Chikwedere, stonecutter and illicit trader; Madala at the Lesedi Repatriation Camp, who helps him find his voice; and Aunt Susie Juma, unofficial Zambian ambassador in Yeoville, Johannesburg, whose detective skills are legendary.

As Joseph navigates unfamiliar and often hostile territory in his search for his parents, he is on a parallel journey of discovery – one of identity and belonging – as he attempts to find a safe house that is truly safe, a language that understands all languages, and a place in his soul that feels like home.

Genres: South Africa

392 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2021

Reviews

[Andy – And The Plot Thickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If I disappeared, I'd expect my children to search for me high and low. A mother disappearing goes against the law of nature. Fathers disappear all the time; it's their speciality."

Joseph Mabaso's South African father Sobhuza disappears all the time. Sobhuza is a freedom fighter, based in Zambia where Joseph lives with his mother and three siblings. He works for MK, the armed wing of the ANC, and is essentially a kind of spy. Joseph's mother, Chanda, is the heart of the family. So when Chanda goes missing shortly after Sobhuza goes on one of his missions, Joseph knows that something has gone wrong. And he decides to look for her.

Joseph's quest will take him across borders and he'll meet as many people along the way who'll harm him as will aid him in his cause. Like Sis Violet, another strong and skilled freedom fighter, one who commands a guerilla unit, which will help smuggle him into South Africa. Or Aunt Susie Juma in Yeoville in Johannesburg, who'll help him look for Chanda there.

Joseph will learn as much about himself as he does about the secrets both his mother and father have kept from him. He'll have to grow up, and fast, while he looks for a place that he can call home, one where he can once again be safe.

I loved this coming-of-age tale. Joseph felt incredibly real to me even though his life is so different to my own (a testament to great writing). 'The Lost Language of the Soul' is a character study, but also a look at the hardships and violence that forged South Africa today. It's a book to fall in love with.

[Fatima Moosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

powerful brilliant storytelling

[David Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not easy writing a review of a book written by a friend. It’s always a bit worrying. I have enormous respect for Mandla Langa. After reading The Lost Language of the Soul, that respect has grown.
Few people could write such a book. Even fewer have the depth of knowledge and personal experience of Mandla Langa, not to mention his gift for story-telling.
The Lost Language of the Soul is, to a large extent, our ability or inability to tell the truth – to bring pain and deception out into the open. It’s an intimate look at treason and the traitors we believe we can trust but who ultimately turn on us. As Mandla Langa so eloquently writes – every organisation has traitors, even at the highest levels, and the African National Congress is no exception. The old white government in South Africa turned members of the same family in order to infiltrate the movement; some of those traitors are almost certainly continuing to occupy positions of authority and influence. Some of these people are responsible for the deaths of heroes, but the likelihood of the facts being made available for public consumption us low.
Mandla Langa is writing about a war, and, as the well-worn cliché goes – truth is the first casualty of war.
I am thankful for what this book has taught me. The Lost Language of the Soul should be prescribed reading in South African secondary schools – especially in former Model C schools and their private equivalents.
The Lost Language of the South is not only a history book – it’s a gripping thriller. Bravo Mandla!

NB: I did NOT read the Kindle edition - I read the paperback Picador Africa edition.

[Seyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me to appreciate how much the pacing of a story affects the overall quality of the reader experience. The Langa does not raise his narrative voice above 'conversational' at any time, even when he is dealing with the very emotional tentpoles he drapes his tale around. There is a lot of pain in the story, not all of it physical. The detail and weight he gives to these tough inflection points feel the same as that with which he draws out the many mundane moments in the main character, 14-year old Joseph's epic quest. My only minor quibble would be with the way the author handles Joseph's own maturing voice during the story but I intend a second reading soon to try and understand this better. This feels like an easy book to recommend to anyone interested in a realistic-feeling view of the moments that made up South Africa's painful transition to democracy. Or to anyone remotely interested in awesome, brilliantly-paced writing.

[Ivanna Tummy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heavy read which dabbles into South Africa's transition to democracy as told through a child narrator. I was initially slow to get into it, but glad I braved it to the end. Requires extreme patience though, to wade through it.