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Scatterlings
In This journey, someone will get lost, someone will give up and turn back, and someone may go all the way to the end. All these people will try to tell you the story of what happened. Abram, a South African winemaker who might be English or Dutch (depending on whomever happens to be listening to his troubles) will tell you that things went wrong when his wife stopped loving him, when his children couldn’t be citizens of their country of birth, and his country tried to put him in prison and steal his vote and estate. He will also tell you that in a twist of irony, his treason came about because he loved his wife and children.
Abram’s wife, Alisa, will tell you that things went wrong much earlier than that. She will outline the details of her displacement with some simplicity. This is what she knows: her ancestors were brought to the Caribbean islands as slaves, she was born in 1882, and after her birth parents died she was adopted by an Englishman who raised her in the United Kingdom.
Then there’s Dido, their troubled, eldest daughter; there’s also an angry man along the way and a woman who kept a secret she shouldn’t have. That’s how the story starts. And even the wind doesn’t know who will get lost, who will turn back, and who will eventually reach home.
Abram’s wife, Alisa, will tell you that things went wrong much earlier than that. She will outline the details of her displacement with some simplicity. This is what she knows: her ancestors were brought to the Caribbean islands as slaves, she was born in 1882, and after her birth parents died she was adopted by an Englishman who raised her in the United Kingdom.
Then there’s Dido, their troubled, eldest daughter; there’s also an angry man along the way and a woman who kept a secret she shouldn’t have. That’s how the story starts. And even the wind doesn’t know who will get lost, who will turn back, and who will eventually reach home.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2020
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4800 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 194 reviews
November 2, 2020
It's true, maybe I'm biased because I wrote it. My debut. My love. I hope you enjoy it.
February 28, 2023
4+v“The gift of my skin is precisely that - a gift. I cannot shed it. I cannot return it to whatever deity created me. And, I am learning, I cannot hate it. The world does that well enough.” And, thoughts from the older Alisa sliding into her gloom.“I wish there was a spell or a prayer I could say to wash the darkness of my skin away.”
Alisa is searching for a place she can call home. She is a young Black woman who has been lovingly raised by a White couple she calls her parents. They have provided a fine education, a good home. But England doesn’t feel like home nor does Jamaica, her birthplace and home of her birth parents. South Africa may prove to be the land where she feels accepted, finally not an outcast. The depression she has always floated in and out of may finally end. Meeting and falling in love with Abram Van Zijl on the ship bound for Cape Town may be the antidote. Marriage to this well-to-do owner of a successful vineyard may rid Alisa of her troubling introspective sadness.
Love for each other and their children is not enough to lift Alisa’s darkness which is confusing to the two young girls, frustrating for Abram.”She refused to leave the darkness of her room. So in cycles Abram loved and hated her. In a trap of her own madness, she loved and hated him.” Race only exacerbated it. The 1927 Immorality Act making interracial marriages unlawful was the realization of all Alisa’s fears. Love does not conquer all, not when the odds are stacked against you. Her marriage would become illegal. Their property and home would be seized. Their children taken from them. It is the breaking point. Her catastrophic solution will irrevocably change this family.
Resoketswe Manenzhe skillfully blends South African folklore with the story of this family and the events of that time. The story is told with an alternating POV. Reading the thoughts of Alisa and Abram reminded me of when I was on the jury for a malpractice case. I would hear the witnesses for the defense and be totally convinced - until I heard the witnesses for the prosecution. Unlike many of the witnesses, in Scatterlings, no side was to blame. The law was to blame, the intolerance of people was to blame, a lack of knowledge about mental illness was to blame. This author has written her first novel with the skill of a much more celebrated author. She has won many literary awards in S.A. but previously was little known elsewhere. The New Yorker named this novel one of the best of 2022, an opinion widely agreed upon among professional reviewers.
This is an extremely sad story that still radiates love and beauty. Even if you are not moved to read it, check out the gorgeous cover, a cover that reveals so much about this affecting book.
“People can belong to a place because it births them, or they’ve borrowed it. It doesn’t matter how we’re tethered to a place because we each leave a mark there, like an echo sounding after the call has died or a chasm carved by the wind. We each leave a piece of our heart.”
“Every child inherits its parents’ history. It inherits the history of the world in its entirety. We’re all burdened with what came before us. Everything that has happened has shaped the world in one way or another. We’re all tethered to the larger world to the past and its consequences. That’s what the world is - a series of lives slowly decaying into history. We cannot escape it.”
Alisa is searching for a place she can call home. She is a young Black woman who has been lovingly raised by a White couple she calls her parents. They have provided a fine education, a good home. But England doesn’t feel like home nor does Jamaica, her birthplace and home of her birth parents. South Africa may prove to be the land where she feels accepted, finally not an outcast. The depression she has always floated in and out of may finally end. Meeting and falling in love with Abram Van Zijl on the ship bound for Cape Town may be the antidote. Marriage to this well-to-do owner of a successful vineyard may rid Alisa of her troubling introspective sadness.
Love for each other and their children is not enough to lift Alisa’s darkness which is confusing to the two young girls, frustrating for Abram.”She refused to leave the darkness of her room. So in cycles Abram loved and hated her. In a trap of her own madness, she loved and hated him.” Race only exacerbated it. The 1927 Immorality Act making interracial marriages unlawful was the realization of all Alisa’s fears. Love does not conquer all, not when the odds are stacked against you. Her marriage would become illegal. Their property and home would be seized. Their children taken from them. It is the breaking point. Her catastrophic solution will irrevocably change this family.
Resoketswe Manenzhe skillfully blends South African folklore with the story of this family and the events of that time. The story is told with an alternating POV. Reading the thoughts of Alisa and Abram reminded me of when I was on the jury for a malpractice case. I would hear the witnesses for the defense and be totally convinced - until I heard the witnesses for the prosecution. Unlike many of the witnesses, in Scatterlings, no side was to blame. The law was to blame, the intolerance of people was to blame, a lack of knowledge about mental illness was to blame. This author has written her first novel with the skill of a much more celebrated author. She has won many literary awards in S.A. but previously was little known elsewhere. The New Yorker named this novel one of the best of 2022, an opinion widely agreed upon among professional reviewers.
This is an extremely sad story that still radiates love and beauty. Even if you are not moved to read it, check out the gorgeous cover, a cover that reveals so much about this affecting book.
“People can belong to a place because it births them, or they’ve borrowed it. It doesn’t matter how we’re tethered to a place because we each leave a mark there, like an echo sounding after the call has died or a chasm carved by the wind. We each leave a piece of our heart.”
“Every child inherits its parents’ history. It inherits the history of the world in its entirety. We’re all burdened with what came before us. Everything that has happened has shaped the world in one way or another. We’re all tethered to the larger world to the past and its consequences. That’s what the world is - a series of lives slowly decaying into history. We cannot escape it.”
May 24, 2022
There has been a proliferation of African fiction lately. I’ve read some, most of which was very good. And this one was simply exceptional.
There were times I was thinking it might overwhelm me with the poeticism of its narrative, but it never did. Instead, it overwhelmed me with its beauty, its poignancy – in the best possible way. The way good books can.
In 1927 South Africa passed its Immorality Laws, outlawing relationships between different races. This is something most Americans are probably mainly familiar with through Trevor Noah, who talks about it extensively in his stand-up and autobiography, being a child of such an outlawed union.
This novel is a story of the devastating effect that law had on one family – the Dutch-English white man, his black English wife (originally from the West Indies), and their two biracial daughters.
An imperfect marriage to begin with, fraught with underlying issues of a woman driven to the brink of madness by her inability to find a place to belong in this world and (subsequent or concurrent) depression. But it began in love; a love that managed to sustain itself however imperfectly over many years. A love that became strained, that changed, but never went away.
It’s what makes what happens in the novel all the more tragic.
I can’t discuss the details without giving too much away, but suffice it to say no one gets out unscathed. The brutal arm of an inhumane law bruises everyone in its reach.
It is a great credit to the author to be able to write about such a difficult time with such emotional intelligence and linguistic elegance as to make the experience positively transforming.
This is especially striking in the depiction of Alisa, a woman unmoored, at odds with her heritage, with her ethnicity and nationality, with her past, unable to find her place in the world, wrecked by a devastating conviction that she doesn’t – cannot – belong to the world that hasn’t made a place for her. Those diary entries alone are absolutely gutting. Such stunning character writing.
And so there you have it. One ugly law – one beautiful book. A relatively short but a powerhose of a read. Literary historical fiction at its best. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
There were times I was thinking it might overwhelm me with the poeticism of its narrative, but it never did. Instead, it overwhelmed me with its beauty, its poignancy – in the best possible way. The way good books can.
In 1927 South Africa passed its Immorality Laws, outlawing relationships between different races. This is something most Americans are probably mainly familiar with through Trevor Noah, who talks about it extensively in his stand-up and autobiography, being a child of such an outlawed union.
This novel is a story of the devastating effect that law had on one family – the Dutch-English white man, his black English wife (originally from the West Indies), and their two biracial daughters.
An imperfect marriage to begin with, fraught with underlying issues of a woman driven to the brink of madness by her inability to find a place to belong in this world and (subsequent or concurrent) depression. But it began in love; a love that managed to sustain itself however imperfectly over many years. A love that became strained, that changed, but never went away.
It’s what makes what happens in the novel all the more tragic.
I can’t discuss the details without giving too much away, but suffice it to say no one gets out unscathed. The brutal arm of an inhumane law bruises everyone in its reach.
It is a great credit to the author to be able to write about such a difficult time with such emotional intelligence and linguistic elegance as to make the experience positively transforming.
This is especially striking in the depiction of Alisa, a woman unmoored, at odds with her heritage, with her ethnicity and nationality, with her past, unable to find her place in the world, wrecked by a devastating conviction that she doesn’t – cannot – belong to the world that hasn’t made a place for her. Those diary entries alone are absolutely gutting. Such stunning character writing.
And so there you have it. One ugly law – one beautiful book. A relatively short but a powerhose of a read. Literary historical fiction at its best. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
February 9, 2024
4.5⭐️
Anhand der Geschichte von Abram uns seiner Familie zeigt die Autorin, wie indigene Stämme in Südafrika aus ihrer Heimat vertrieben, enteignet, und systematisch unterdrückt würden. Ein wichtiges Thema ist der Immortality Act von 1927, der Ehen zwischen weissen und nicht-weissen Menschen verbot.
Das Leid der Menschen ist sehr eindrücklich beschriebe. Die verschiedenen Mythen, die die Geschichte spicken, geben Lichtblicke und gefielen mir sehr gut. Die Autorin verwendet eine sehr lyrische Sprache, die gut zu den Mythen passt, stellenweise aber auch etwas überfrachtet wirkt.
Alles in allem ein sehr beeindruckendes Debüt.
Mehr zum Buch auf meinem YouTube Kanal (Japan Connect):
https://youtu.be/8UMUN0yibJE
Anhand der Geschichte von Abram uns seiner Familie zeigt die Autorin, wie indigene Stämme in Südafrika aus ihrer Heimat vertrieben, enteignet, und systematisch unterdrückt würden. Ein wichtiges Thema ist der Immortality Act von 1927, der Ehen zwischen weissen und nicht-weissen Menschen verbot.
Das Leid der Menschen ist sehr eindrücklich beschriebe. Die verschiedenen Mythen, die die Geschichte spicken, geben Lichtblicke und gefielen mir sehr gut. Die Autorin verwendet eine sehr lyrische Sprache, die gut zu den Mythen passt, stellenweise aber auch etwas überfrachtet wirkt.
Alles in allem ein sehr beeindruckendes Debüt.
Mehr zum Buch auf meinem YouTube Kanal (Japan Connect):
https://youtu.be/8UMUN0yibJE
February 28, 2021
This story follows a multiracial couple and their children in pre-apartheid South Africa. It's during the time the South African government passed the immorality act.
"Act no. 5 of 1927. To prohibit illicit carnal intercourse between Europeans and natives and other acts in relation thereto. "
From what I've experienced, the story jumps between folklore and the actual story - Van Zijl's current racial dilemma. There is a tragedy that takes place in the early chapters of the book and it sets out the rest of the story.
I struggled with getting my grip with the story in the beginning especially since its written in such a lyrical form that it just over extends itself without telling much of the story in a straight forward manner. Poetic maybe but surely there is such a thing as too much.
After a few days of a hiatus I returned to finish it off and appreciated the story told. A story of love, loss, choice, heart and the courage to move on. I just found what Alisa did to Abram and their children to be wreckless.
The folklore keeps the book interesting as well. I even had a nudging feeling that I'd heard some of the stories growing up so it was a pretty cool recollection of memories lost.
"Act no. 5 of 1927. To prohibit illicit carnal intercourse between Europeans and natives and other acts in relation thereto. "
From what I've experienced, the story jumps between folklore and the actual story - Van Zijl's current racial dilemma. There is a tragedy that takes place in the early chapters of the book and it sets out the rest of the story.
I struggled with getting my grip with the story in the beginning especially since its written in such a lyrical form that it just over extends itself without telling much of the story in a straight forward manner. Poetic maybe but surely there is such a thing as too much.
After a few days of a hiatus I returned to finish it off and appreciated the story told. A story of love, loss, choice, heart and the courage to move on. I just found what Alisa did to Abram and their children to be wreckless.
The folklore keeps the book interesting as well. I even had a nudging feeling that I'd heard some of the stories growing up so it was a pretty cool recollection of memories lost.
October 5, 2022
I anticipated that Scatterlings would be primarily about the ramifications of the South African Immortality Act, passed in 1927, which deemed it a crime for Europeans (whites) and natives (blacks) to engage in intimate relations.
Indeed, this is how the novel starts out: Abram van Zijl and his emotionally unstable wife Alisa, parents of two mixed race daughters, find themselves in the crossfire of this immoral new law. But the author wants to examine the choices we make, what it means to belong, and the fervent allure and tragedy that draws people to (and forces them away from) Africa.
It particularly focuses on Alisa, who was born the daughter of a Jamaican slave and adopted by an Englishman, leaving her to straddle the white/black divide and experience herself as rootless and ultimately, melancholy and lost. Large segments of her journal are revealed that are more expository than emotive or introspective. While her feelings of oppression are revealed, the tone of the journal keeps readers at a distance from a true understanding of a heinous act that Alisa commits early on in the novel.
Ultimately, my reading experience was mixed. On one hand, this author writes beautifully and lyrically, introducing ancestral myth and ritual into her narrative and composing passages that are memorable, mesmerizing, and profound. On the other, there are narrative choices (such as the journal) that, for me, broke up the spell that was being created and not fully allowing me to immerse into the story. I thank BookBrowse and Harper Via for enabling me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review.
Indeed, this is how the novel starts out: Abram van Zijl and his emotionally unstable wife Alisa, parents of two mixed race daughters, find themselves in the crossfire of this immoral new law. But the author wants to examine the choices we make, what it means to belong, and the fervent allure and tragedy that draws people to (and forces them away from) Africa.
It particularly focuses on Alisa, who was born the daughter of a Jamaican slave and adopted by an Englishman, leaving her to straddle the white/black divide and experience herself as rootless and ultimately, melancholy and lost. Large segments of her journal are revealed that are more expository than emotive or introspective. While her feelings of oppression are revealed, the tone of the journal keeps readers at a distance from a true understanding of a heinous act that Alisa commits early on in the novel.
Ultimately, my reading experience was mixed. On one hand, this author writes beautifully and lyrically, introducing ancestral myth and ritual into her narrative and composing passages that are memorable, mesmerizing, and profound. On the other, there are narrative choices (such as the journal) that, for me, broke up the spell that was being created and not fully allowing me to immerse into the story. I thank BookBrowse and Harper Via for enabling me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review.
February 25, 2023
2.5/5
This book was hard to finish, not because of the subject matter, but due to the writing style. The narrative was often obscured by what seemed like a need to over-intellectualize minor aspects of the background that did little to compliment the characters or move the plot forward. So much time was spent trying to spin a tale of Africa as a place of legend and lore that the people portrayed as living there felt like shadows instead of humans. Not to mention that the myths recounted often felt randomly placed and incomplete. The plot plodded on to seemingly nowhere and nearly all of the characters spoke/thought in such a highly affected manner that it made reading this feel like a chore. By the end, I didn't feel like I knew any of the characters any better than when it began. Surprisingly, the native characters came off as the least authentic in all of it.
This book was hard to finish, not because of the subject matter, but due to the writing style. The narrative was often obscured by what seemed like a need to over-intellectualize minor aspects of the background that did little to compliment the characters or move the plot forward. So much time was spent trying to spin a tale of Africa as a place of legend and lore that the people portrayed as living there felt like shadows instead of humans. Not to mention that the myths recounted often felt randomly placed and incomplete. The plot plodded on to seemingly nowhere and nearly all of the characters spoke/thought in such a highly affected manner that it made reading this feel like a chore. By the end, I didn't feel like I knew any of the characters any better than when it began. Surprisingly, the native characters came off as the least authentic in all of it.
July 19, 2021
"We're all tethered to the larger world, to the past & it's consequences. That's what the world is - a series of lives slowly decaying into history".
I'mma first start by saying I understand why some people DNFed this book. The writing is so rigid, ulititarian & devoid of emotion. The sentences are long-winded & occasionally aimless. The tone felt like I was reading something written by a YT man back in the early 1900s. It felt distant & cold even though the language was flowery in some parts.
But the story though, the story was so interesting. The concept of coming home when you've only heard of it & never seen it. Interracial couples in a pre Morality Act South Africa & their mixed race children. The exploration of identity in terms of land, language & culture.
I loved those aspects of the book & the occasional interweaving of Southern African folklore - I mean they talk about Mamolapi & Mphukudu. That part excited me. I just wish there was more emotion cause I was a bit nonchalant towards Alisa's plight.
TW : suicide
I'mma first start by saying I understand why some people DNFed this book. The writing is so rigid, ulititarian & devoid of emotion. The sentences are long-winded & occasionally aimless. The tone felt like I was reading something written by a YT man back in the early 1900s. It felt distant & cold even though the language was flowery in some parts.
But the story though, the story was so interesting. The concept of coming home when you've only heard of it & never seen it. Interracial couples in a pre Morality Act South Africa & their mixed race children. The exploration of identity in terms of land, language & culture.
I loved those aspects of the book & the occasional interweaving of Southern African folklore - I mean they talk about Mamolapi & Mphukudu. That part excited me. I just wish there was more emotion cause I was a bit nonchalant towards Alisa's plight.
TW : suicide
February 3, 2021
What a beautiful and powerful book. The words will nestle beneath your skin and sink somewhere deep inside. A brilliant debut!
October 18, 2024
「一個讓人無法感到歸屬的地方，還能稱之為家嗎？」
《離散��家》描寫一九二七年南非在通過《違背道德法案》後，亞伯罕一家四口的悲劇。全書以桑人的傳說拉開序幕，帶著讀者認識非洲這塊土地上的分裂，還有神話與傳統信仰。
在法案頒布後，歐洲人和原住民發生關係被視為違法，而亞伯罕一家也因此被當地官員盯上，除了財產面臨充公的危機，兩個女兒也在學校被官員關注。讓亞伯罕的一家處境更雪上加霜的是，孩子母親艾麗莎日益惡化的精神狀態，後來，一場悲劇性的大火燒入家園，讓亞伯罕不得不計畫離開自己稱作為家的開普敦。
＼我＼是＼分＼格＼線＼
這個故事讀下來讓人心碎，也同時讓人去思考很多問題，像是身分認同、種族歧視、傳統價值等。
具有牙買加血統但被英國人領養的艾麗莎、歐洲白人亞伯罕、以及們的一對混血女兒，每個人在故事裡都有自己的故事要說。
艾麗莎是我印象最深刻的角色，雖然她一開始的戲份較少，但她日記裡的內容是整個故事的亮點，也因為有這個角色，讀者能夠以不同的角度去思考故事的推進與結局。
另外，故事裡的非洲神話也讓我印象深刻。在歐洲各國瓜分非洲後，歐洲人帶來了自己的文化與價值，並且試圖去「提升」當地人，讓非洲逐漸失去特質。
作者借著亞伯罕大女兒蒂朵面臨的掙扎來寫混血兒的身分認同，雖然她一開始對於非洲傳統文化與神話所知甚少，但她在悲劇後開始接觸當地文化以及生活智慧，顯現出與艾麗莎故事的強烈對照。
對我而言，這是一本讀來很情緒複雜但又讓我大開眼界的一本書，特別推薦給對非洲小說有興趣的讀者。
《離散��家》描寫一九二七年南非在通過《違背道德法案》後，亞伯罕一家四口的悲劇。全書以桑人的傳說拉開序幕，帶著讀者認識非洲這塊土地上的分裂，還有神話與傳統信仰。
在法案頒布後，歐洲人和原住民發生關係被視為違法，而亞伯罕一家也因此被當地官員盯上，除了財產面臨充公的危機，兩個女兒也在學校被官員關注。讓亞伯罕的一家處境更雪上加霜的是，孩子母親艾麗莎日益惡化的精神狀態，後來，一場悲劇性的大火燒入家園，讓亞伯罕不得不計畫離開自己稱作為家的開普敦。
＼我＼是＼分＼格＼線＼
這個故事讀下來讓人心碎，也同時讓人去思考很多問題，像是身分認同、種族歧視、傳統價值等。
具有牙買加血統但被英國人領養的艾麗莎、歐洲白人亞伯罕、以及們的一對混血女兒，每個人在故事裡都有自己的故事要說。
艾麗莎是我印象最深刻的角色，雖然她一開始的戲份較少，但她日記裡的內容是整個故事的亮點，也因為有這個角色，讀者能夠以不同的角度去思考故事的推進與結局。
另外，故事裡的非洲神話也讓我印象深刻。在歐洲各國瓜分非洲後，歐洲人帶來了自己的文化與價值，並且試圖去「提升」當地人，讓非洲逐漸失去特質。
作者借著亞伯罕大女兒蒂朵面臨的掙扎來寫混血兒的身分認同，雖然她一開始對於非洲傳統文化與神話所知甚少，但她在悲劇後開始接觸當地文化以及生活智慧，顯現出與艾麗莎故事的強烈對照。
對我而言，這是一本讀來很情緒複雜但又讓我大開眼界的一本書，特別推薦給對非洲小說有興趣的讀者。
July 10, 2021
A beautifully woven historical drama. An untold angle to the story of South Africa. It reveals the narrations of scattered souls, scattered lives. The story of a woman who you wouldn't imagine should have been in South Africa in the early 1900s. Her search to find her African identity unfortunately leads her to arrive at the wrong time in history, when the color of your skin decides who is cursed and who is blessed. Her path and her daughter's, cross other women's paths who have been born at the wrong time in history where being a woman is invisibility.
January 2, 2023
This is a novel of beautiful language. The prose is other-worldly and I think the plot is rather loose, but when the writing is this beautiful, the looseness of plot is but a minor annoyance. Alissa is a troubled lady who finds her settled in 1920’s South Africa with her Englishman husband. When the Immorality Act is passed which basically outlaws relations between Whites and Natives, Alissa, husband and their two daughters realize that a change in place is a necessity.
This prompts Alissa to initiate a horrid act, and leaves the reader with a big ? Later when some of her journals are found, we are let in on her state of mind, but nothing detailing the whys. The construction of great paragraphs and greater sentences aids the reader in overlooking the the thinness of explanation. And just as you might begin to tire of such, the novel concludes, and you will sit mesmerized by the language you just experienced and sometime later may add a little disappointing note about plot. I can’t wait to read whatever is next. A beautiful writer she is.
This prompts Alissa to initiate a horrid act, and leaves the reader with a big ? Later when some of her journals are found, we are let in on her state of mind, but nothing detailing the whys. The construction of great paragraphs and greater sentences aids the reader in overlooking the the thinness of explanation. And just as you might begin to tire of such, the novel concludes, and you will sit mesmerized by the language you just experienced and sometime later may add a little disappointing note about plot. I can’t wait to read whatever is next. A beautiful writer she is.
March 31, 2023
This is a very sad story about love, racism, and the history of slavery.
I cried many times, reading this and felt things, I have rarely felt before.
I am still pretty speechless...
November 13, 2022
This is a beautiful, sad book, an examination of what it means to be of a place, to take a country or a continent into your heart and make it a piece of you, even as that place rejects you for merely being who you are. It is also an indictment of our historical and ongoing racial crimes, our obsession with and irrational judgments around the color of skin.
In 1927, South Africa passed the Immorality Act, making it a crime for a white person to have sexual relations with a Black one, even within marriage; in addition, their children may be seized and sent away. Both of the parties could be fined or imprisoned, though of course the penalties were much more severe for the Black person involved. Alisa and Abram are caught in such a bind and must choose whether to flee. Their lands are already being surveyed by the local government authority for confiscation.
What makes this tragedy all the more difficult is Alisa's mental illness, a deep melancholy she cannot shake. In one of many magical choices in this novel, we are able to see Alisa's past through a series of entries in her journal, to see the vibrant young woman she was and how she came to be where and how she is.
Despite the dark subject material here, this is not a difficult book to read. While not exactly infused with hope, it is nonetheless a story of resilience and joy, especially in the person of Dido, Abram and Alisa's daughter. She is a spark of life in a bleak landscape and helps us to understand that we must live, and live well, no matter what the cost or barrier standing against us.
Infused throughout are stories and legends from Africa, emphasizing the richness and perception inherent in a culture the white world considered (and often still considers) primitive and ignorant. These, too, add a ray of hope, if only by reminding us that the world is eternal, even if we are mere embers in the great fire, quickly winking out by giving life to those who come after us.
Truly a beautiful and heartbreaking tale, Scatterlings is a truly essential read for our times.
In 1927, South Africa passed the Immorality Act, making it a crime for a white person to have sexual relations with a Black one, even within marriage; in addition, their children may be seized and sent away. Both of the parties could be fined or imprisoned, though of course the penalties were much more severe for the Black person involved. Alisa and Abram are caught in such a bind and must choose whether to flee. Their lands are already being surveyed by the local government authority for confiscation.
What makes this tragedy all the more difficult is Alisa's mental illness, a deep melancholy she cannot shake. In one of many magical choices in this novel, we are able to see Alisa's past through a series of entries in her journal, to see the vibrant young woman she was and how she came to be where and how she is.
Despite the dark subject material here, this is not a difficult book to read. While not exactly infused with hope, it is nonetheless a story of resilience and joy, especially in the person of Dido, Abram and Alisa's daughter. She is a spark of life in a bleak landscape and helps us to understand that we must live, and live well, no matter what the cost or barrier standing against us.
Infused throughout are stories and legends from Africa, emphasizing the richness and perception inherent in a culture the white world considered (and often still considers) primitive and ignorant. These, too, add a ray of hope, if only by reminding us that the world is eternal, even if we are mere embers in the great fire, quickly winking out by giving life to those who come after us.
Truly a beautiful and heartbreaking tale, Scatterlings is a truly essential read for our times.
April 9, 2024
this book was not for me. I didn’t like the slowness of the plot and how the most of the interesting things happen at the beginning of the book and it quickly becomes less and less interesting. I partly feel that the author was trying too hard to be symbolic and dramatic and i couldn’t understand many things without rereading multiple times and even then it was tough. maybe i will reread this book at a different time but not for a while.
December 23, 2020
Scatterlings is beautiful. It surprised me and grew on me. I struggled with it in its first few chapters. It seemed lost in being overly lyrical but as I read more, it became a stunning and complicated story. It is a story about South Africa’s history that is very unlike any other I have read — it doesn’t re-tell the stories about our past that have been told many times and goes into nuances I didn’t expect. Scatterlings somehow manages to be historical fiction and poetry and folklore and biography all at once. I can’t wait read Rešoketšwe Manenzhe’s next books
February 27, 2023
the writing felt a bit too preoccupied with being poetic to focus on telling a coherent story. there were a few moments where it felt like it would get going but ultimately the book was a drag
February 15, 2026
SCATTERLINGS is a novel of interiority that personalizes the tragedy wrought by institutional hubris.A pivotal historical moment is examined in a quiet way, following the path of one family and assembling a portrait of the corrosion of both individuals and the soul of a society.The devastation is a result of legislation that made miscegenation a crime.
Racial prejudice and segregation were rampant in South Africa before the enactment of apartheid in 1948. The Immorality Act of 1927 legislated prison sentences for physical interracial relationships. The law altered the lives of the Van Zil family…father Abram, wife and mother Alisa and daughters Dido and Emilia. Abram is white, Dutch and English. Alisa was born to a black slave father in Jamaica and adopted by white English parents after his death. The couple lived with their biracial daughters on Abram’s thriving winery estate in Cape Town, South Africa.
Initially, Abram felt protected by his whiteness, his success and his already existing marriage.He thought that his family would be exempt from the tentacles of the new law because of his complexion and standing in the community.Alisa, however, did not harbor the same illusions. She has grown up as a cultural outsider on the fringe of society.Her marriage has been an attempt to cosset herself in the privilege and protection of her husband’s genealogy. However,when Alisa heard an avaricious bureaucrat remind Abram that he has flouted the responsibilities of his race and class, she realized that she and her children will always remain on society’s margins. Feeling trapped in impossible circumstances, Alisa chose a course of action that fragmented the family and plunged their remnants into a struggle for identity, belonging and safety.
The motivation for Alisa’s actions is gradually revealed in her private journal. The journal discusses Alisa’s dissociation from both her Jamaican roots, her English upbringing and her South African landing spot. Her story underscores that the 1927 laws have deep roots that originate in the arrogance and privilege of colonial conquest. Alisa’s story is filled with grief and despair that unfolds silently and sinuously.
The author intertwines mystery and South African law with the rituals and folklore of indigenous South African tribes. As the family seeks reorientation and safety, they cling to the wisdom of Mmakoma, the family nanny they know as Gloria.Her recitation of her tribal stories and ritual myths is an attempt to mediate the shattered family’s grief as they seek a safe haven beyond the reach of the new laws.
In this way, the novel becomes a story portraying the disconnect in cultures that actually extends beyond South Africa and reverberates worldwide. I had previously mentioned that the novel is a quiet novel.It is not didactic and does not overtly take sides. Rather, the narrative is gradually revelatory, assembling incidents and reactions that allow the reader to draw conclusions. The novel does not scream. Instead it whispers.Yet by novel’s end, the weight of whispers becomes an avalanche of sound excoriating all restrictive systems of laws and culture based on the melanin lodged in a person’s body.
Racial prejudice and segregation were rampant in South Africa before the enactment of apartheid in 1948. The Immorality Act of 1927 legislated prison sentences for physical interracial relationships. The law altered the lives of the Van Zil family…father Abram, wife and mother Alisa and daughters Dido and Emilia. Abram is white, Dutch and English. Alisa was born to a black slave father in Jamaica and adopted by white English parents after his death. The couple lived with their biracial daughters on Abram’s thriving winery estate in Cape Town, South Africa.
Initially, Abram felt protected by his whiteness, his success and his already existing marriage.He thought that his family would be exempt from the tentacles of the new law because of his complexion and standing in the community.Alisa, however, did not harbor the same illusions. She has grown up as a cultural outsider on the fringe of society.Her marriage has been an attempt to cosset herself in the privilege and protection of her husband’s genealogy. However,when Alisa heard an avaricious bureaucrat remind Abram that he has flouted the responsibilities of his race and class, she realized that she and her children will always remain on society’s margins. Feeling trapped in impossible circumstances, Alisa chose a course of action that fragmented the family and plunged their remnants into a struggle for identity, belonging and safety.
The motivation for Alisa’s actions is gradually revealed in her private journal. The journal discusses Alisa’s dissociation from both her Jamaican roots, her English upbringing and her South African landing spot. Her story underscores that the 1927 laws have deep roots that originate in the arrogance and privilege of colonial conquest. Alisa’s story is filled with grief and despair that unfolds silently and sinuously.
The author intertwines mystery and South African law with the rituals and folklore of indigenous South African tribes. As the family seeks reorientation and safety, they cling to the wisdom of Mmakoma, the family nanny they know as Gloria.Her recitation of her tribal stories and ritual myths is an attempt to mediate the shattered family’s grief as they seek a safe haven beyond the reach of the new laws.
In this way, the novel becomes a story portraying the disconnect in cultures that actually extends beyond South Africa and reverberates worldwide. I had previously mentioned that the novel is a quiet novel.It is not didactic and does not overtly take sides. Rather, the narrative is gradually revelatory, assembling incidents and reactions that allow the reader to draw conclusions. The novel does not scream. Instead it whispers.Yet by novel’s end, the weight of whispers becomes an avalanche of sound excoriating all restrictive systems of laws and culture based on the melanin lodged in a person’s body.
March 4, 2023
This is one of the most hauntingly beautiful novels I’ve ever read. It is clear that the writer is a poet. However, the exquisite writing never takes away from the story of the characters. The audio book was excellent, but I’ve bought a hard copy and plan to read it again. Some of her sentences simply took my breath away!
August 26, 2024
What happens when a government declares some marriages illegal? What happens to families? Children? This book forces us to consider just that from a historical fiction perspective.
January 24, 2024
I thought I was ambivalent toward literary historical fiction, but this book made me realize I just need to read more diverse authorship within the genre. Scatterlings is my favorite read of the year so far, and I will be buying it to reread and lend out. The setting and characters were unfamiliar to me, but felt deeply and immediately relatable in Manenzhe’s soulful prose.
January 14, 2023
I received this book as an advanced reader copy. It is an interesting, complex and provocative novel about the theme of belonging. Starting with the passage of the Immorality Act of 1927, the book follows the unraveling of the marriage of Abram and Alisa van Zijl as they face the enforcement of the act that established apartheid. Alisa, a black woman, adopted by white parents sets sail from the Caribbean to find her "roots," if you will, in South Africa. She meets Abram, a white man and transplant to South Africa, who is also trying to establish "roots." They have two daughters, Dido and Emilia, whom Alisa fears will be taken from them as a result of the new law. A tragic fire sets in motion events that form the crux of what it means to belong. Scratterling is defined on a page preceding the start of the novel: a person without a fixed home; a wanderer. The structure of the novel and the character of Alisa were off putting for me which is why I didn't give the book five starts -- but I note, the book is beautifully written. The power of the complex story makes it a worthwhile read, though. As one reviewer notes "By the end of the novel, Abram’s sense of belonging in South Africa might be taken away from him by a system hostile to his black wife and children, but he had an opportunity at belonging – at abandoning his status as a scatterling – that was never truly a possibility for Alisa. This is a harsh historical reality that still resonates today."
September 21, 2022
I really love this book, the writer, characters, and narrative, the only thing to say is read it. I have a whole new perspective on the lives of Africans both white and black. It surely made me sad at points and took moments in time, while reading, to really digest it all in one sitting. I have only one negative and that was the ending, I wish I could speak with the writer about it. Anyway, I hope this author goes on to great success as this s brilliant. Thank you for gifting me.
January 7, 2023
There were some interesting parts to this story, but overall it came down to the writing style. I felt that the concept was there and that the writing didn’t elicit enough emotion. Also, it felt dragged out and not much happened.
December 24, 2020
Scatterlings is a book filled with poetry and beauty. A wonderful achievement!
May 31, 2021
Beautiful writing, great story.
February 24, 2023
For me this book was a slow read and I nearly quit reading it. The second half of the book made it worth reading. There are some strong, insightful passages in the second half.
March 2, 2025
I read this book after listening to Resoketswe at the the Hague Writers Unlimited book event. She made a big impression in how she talked about South Africa and scatterlings. The book has beautiful sections in there and I really enjoyed the stories from ancestors. Very poetic writing style. She could become a great short story writer. The family and historic story of Alisa and Bram was fascinating and painful to read. Parts of the book were a bit difficult to follow. I was expecting the diary section would help me understand better why Alisa did what what she did - and her mental health issues - but that did not really come out.
December 30, 2022
"...some stories start in the middle because no one wants to hear the beginning. They can be told quickly because no one wants to know the details. Sometimes all that matters is the conclusion."
Thanks to @bibliolifestyle for the gifted copy. Scatterlings by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe was a nice surprise. Manenzhe's writing style is poetic and magical. Her ability to weave a beautiful story filled with folklore and ancestral wisdom kept me captivated until the end. Manenzhe introduced characters with unique voices and perspectives. Although the novel was short, the story was full of deep themes of identity, nationalism, depression, suicidal ideations, trans-racial adoption, colonization and slavery, anti-Blackness, apartheid and miscegenation.
The history of Capetown, South Africa is a prominent part of the story and really made me think about the ways that Black African peoples were stripped of their identities and met with racism and anti-Blackness even when they return home to reconnect. Manenzhe shows the ways that trans-racial adoptions don't automatically bring acceptance to Black adoptees. She shows how these same adoptees are left to navigate their identity and microagressions with no support from their adoptive parents because they are ambivalent of their own privilege and participation in colonization.
I appreciated how she highlighted the depression and suicidal ideations that Alisa felt having to navigate white spaces and feeling disconnected from her African roots, despite having ancestral giftings. Manenzhe's story is a reminder of the power of storytelling in keeping cultures alive and staying connected to original homelands.
The storytelling reminded me of When We Were Birds which I loved. If you enjoy literary and historical fiction interspersed with ancestral wisdom and folklore then consider giving this one a try. I will definitely be looking out for more from this author because this was a stunning debut.
Thanks to @bibliolifestyle for the gifted copy. Scatterlings by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe was a nice surprise. Manenzhe's writing style is poetic and magical. Her ability to weave a beautiful story filled with folklore and ancestral wisdom kept me captivated until the end. Manenzhe introduced characters with unique voices and perspectives. Although the novel was short, the story was full of deep themes of identity, nationalism, depression, suicidal ideations, trans-racial adoption, colonization and slavery, anti-Blackness, apartheid and miscegenation.
The history of Capetown, South Africa is a prominent part of the story and really made me think about the ways that Black African peoples were stripped of their identities and met with racism and anti-Blackness even when they return home to reconnect. Manenzhe shows the ways that trans-racial adoptions don't automatically bring acceptance to Black adoptees. She shows how these same adoptees are left to navigate their identity and microagressions with no support from their adoptive parents because they are ambivalent of their own privilege and participation in colonization.
I appreciated how she highlighted the depression and suicidal ideations that Alisa felt having to navigate white spaces and feeling disconnected from her African roots, despite having ancestral giftings. Manenzhe's story is a reminder of the power of storytelling in keeping cultures alive and staying connected to original homelands.
The storytelling reminded me of When We Were Birds which I loved. If you enjoy literary and historical fiction interspersed with ancestral wisdom and folklore then consider giving this one a try. I will definitely be looking out for more from this author because this was a stunning debut.
March 16, 2025
I’m giving this book 4 stars because of how the author was able to convey what living with depression is like through one of the main characters. I’ve never read a fiction that so accurately described it. It took my breath away in places.
The plot felt a little underdeveloped. But it also worked for the mythical vibe I think the author was going for. I was hoping that there would be more South African history and culture presented than there was.
The plot felt a little underdeveloped. But it also worked for the mythical vibe I think the author was going for. I was hoping that there would be more South African history and culture presented than there was.
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