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Mirage
"Out here, the past and the future lie over each other, like the strata of koppies. And in certain places the boundary between the two rubs clean."
A century-old trunk has been dug up near the railway village of Sterfontein. Inside is the lost journal of Victorian author Elizabeth Tenant ― and what appear to be the remains of a child.
Michael, a university student recovering from a broken heart, is intrigued by what the journal describes: a scarlet curtain billowing above the desert, covering the entrance to another world. But things become even stranger when a line in the journal seems to be connected to Michael and his cosmologist mother, written a hundred years before their time.
Michael travels to the old Karoo hotel where Elizabeth wrote her novel Mirage. Amid talk of omens in the sky, ancient prophecies and the end of the world, he tries to decipher the journal’s secrets. As time starts to dissolve in the mirages of the Karoo, it becomes more and more difficult to know what is real and what is not.
And why can’t he shake the feeling that he’s been to the village before?
A fast-paced metaphysical mystery that includes fascinating detail on Karoo landscape and botany; cosmology and astronomy. At its heart, Mirage is a story about loss and healing; and how we use narrative to cope with pain.
*Winner of the Olive Schreiner Prize (2024)*
*Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize (2024)*
*Longlisted for the SALA Award for Best Novel (2024)*
A century-old trunk has been dug up near the railway village of Sterfontein. Inside is the lost journal of Victorian author Elizabeth Tenant ― and what appear to be the remains of a child.
Michael, a university student recovering from a broken heart, is intrigued by what the journal describes: a scarlet curtain billowing above the desert, covering the entrance to another world. But things become even stranger when a line in the journal seems to be connected to Michael and his cosmologist mother, written a hundred years before their time.
Michael travels to the old Karoo hotel where Elizabeth wrote her novel Mirage. Amid talk of omens in the sky, ancient prophecies and the end of the world, he tries to decipher the journal’s secrets. As time starts to dissolve in the mirages of the Karoo, it becomes more and more difficult to know what is real and what is not.
And why can’t he shake the feeling that he’s been to the village before?
A fast-paced metaphysical mystery that includes fascinating detail on Karoo landscape and botany; cosmology and astronomy. At its heart, Mirage is a story about loss and healing; and how we use narrative to cope with pain.
*Winner of the Olive Schreiner Prize (2024)*
*Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize (2024)*
*Longlisted for the SALA Award for Best Novel (2024)*
230 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2023
8 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 26, 2023
There is an extraordinary chapter towards the end of ‘Mirage’ called ‘laniakea’, which of course is the supercluster that our Milky Way belongs to. Along with 100 000 other galaxies. The Hawaiian word ‘laniākea’ means ‘immense heaven’.
The boy lies in room 303 as the seams of the earth split open. Nymphs and water sprouts burst free from their frames. Marble wings unfurl. Lampposts, windmills, cedar spires are swallowed by the ground.
An earthquake in the middle of the Karoo.
The things that remain splintered to dust – buildings, bodies, flowers – streaming through his hands and hair.
‘What’s happening?’ he asks, as the village pulls itself apart. ‘Where am I?’
At the edge of time.
Who are you?
The woman clothed in the sun, moon and stars.
I was immediately reminded of the Angel appearing to Prior Walter in ‘Angels in America’ by Tony Kushner. As in that play, what happens to the boy in room 303 is a vast, mystical irruption of the inexplicable and the divine in the text, shining like a glorious beacon through the pages on which the words are written.
By this stage, the delicate dual narrative strands of the plot, past and present (and future?), have unfurled like the leaves of the mysterious Boophone disticha plant. Or the wings of the woman clothed in the sky.
In his ‘Notes’, David Ralph Viviers writes that ‘Mirage’ is “a novel of ideas: about the imaginative possibilities of the South African landscape, its skies and flora.” He adds that ‘Mirage’ was the working title for ‘The Story of an African Farm’, with his character of Elizabeth Tenant based on Olive Schreiner.
It is also about our place in the universe. On 14 February 1990, Voyager 1 was about 6.4 billion kilometres away and 32° above the ecliptic plane when it captured the indelible image of Earth as a minuscule crescent of light only 0.12 pixel in size (the inspiration for Carl Sagan’s famous ‘Pale Blue Dot’.)
Ironically, the Karoo looms over ‘Mirage’ as a vast metaphysical or existential plane. David Ralph Viviers is one of those extraordinary writers who paints with words. The Karoo, its fauna and flora, and its peculiar South African-ness, with our national spirit reflected in its harsh and unforgiving landscape, blooms under his pen. It is a terrain layered with stories and history, just like the plot itself is a slow accretion of different strands of time and meaning.
Literature student Michael, working on a thesis about Victorian author Elizabeth Tenant (yes, her unpublished book is called ‘Mirage’ and also has a character called Michael in it), travels to the dusty dorp of Sterfontein where a century-old trunk is dug up containing her lost journal. And what appears to be the remains of a baby.
Sterfontein is prepped like a stage for a play, with a cast of familiar tropes like the resident psychic, a fusty hotel receptionist, and a crusty museum owner. The latter becomes the decolonial voice of the novel when he muses to Michael that the true inhabitants of the Karoo, the Khoisan, have long been buried and forgotten like Elizabeth’s trunk.
Of course, Michael arrives at a time when the town is comically besieged by a bunch of world-enders anticipating either a miraculous or apocalyptic (it is unclear which) event to occur in the night sky of Sterfontein. However, Michael is absorbed by mysteries and revelations of his own.
The combination of astronomy and biology is truly intriguing (and an essential dual chorus behind the plot), reminding me of ‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers. I was unclear why David Ralph Viviers made his main character gay, especially as Michael’s back story of a broken relationship was the least satisfying aspect for me. But every detail here fits together like cogs in an intricate and well-oiled machine, and the reason for this choice is revealed in the final chapter, fittingly called ‘atoms’:
Maybe some day, in a far-off universe, you and I will fly through a sky lit up in colours the human eye cannot see. We’ll soak up the light of our star as we climb, higher and higher. In that world, the sun will always be rising. There’ll be no past or future. No word for want or almost or lost.
The boy lies in room 303 as the seams of the earth split open. Nymphs and water sprouts burst free from their frames. Marble wings unfurl. Lampposts, windmills, cedar spires are swallowed by the ground.
An earthquake in the middle of the Karoo.
The things that remain splintered to dust – buildings, bodies, flowers – streaming through his hands and hair.
‘What’s happening?’ he asks, as the village pulls itself apart. ‘Where am I?’
At the edge of time.
Who are you?
The woman clothed in the sun, moon and stars.
I was immediately reminded of the Angel appearing to Prior Walter in ‘Angels in America’ by Tony Kushner. As in that play, what happens to the boy in room 303 is a vast, mystical irruption of the inexplicable and the divine in the text, shining like a glorious beacon through the pages on which the words are written.
By this stage, the delicate dual narrative strands of the plot, past and present (and future?), have unfurled like the leaves of the mysterious Boophone disticha plant. Or the wings of the woman clothed in the sky.
In his ‘Notes’, David Ralph Viviers writes that ‘Mirage’ is “a novel of ideas: about the imaginative possibilities of the South African landscape, its skies and flora.” He adds that ‘Mirage’ was the working title for ‘The Story of an African Farm’, with his character of Elizabeth Tenant based on Olive Schreiner.
It is also about our place in the universe. On 14 February 1990, Voyager 1 was about 6.4 billion kilometres away and 32° above the ecliptic plane when it captured the indelible image of Earth as a minuscule crescent of light only 0.12 pixel in size (the inspiration for Carl Sagan’s famous ‘Pale Blue Dot’.)
Ironically, the Karoo looms over ‘Mirage’ as a vast metaphysical or existential plane. David Ralph Viviers is one of those extraordinary writers who paints with words. The Karoo, its fauna and flora, and its peculiar South African-ness, with our national spirit reflected in its harsh and unforgiving landscape, blooms under his pen. It is a terrain layered with stories and history, just like the plot itself is a slow accretion of different strands of time and meaning.
Literature student Michael, working on a thesis about Victorian author Elizabeth Tenant (yes, her unpublished book is called ‘Mirage’ and also has a character called Michael in it), travels to the dusty dorp of Sterfontein where a century-old trunk is dug up containing her lost journal. And what appears to be the remains of a baby.
Sterfontein is prepped like a stage for a play, with a cast of familiar tropes like the resident psychic, a fusty hotel receptionist, and a crusty museum owner. The latter becomes the decolonial voice of the novel when he muses to Michael that the true inhabitants of the Karoo, the Khoisan, have long been buried and forgotten like Elizabeth’s trunk.
Of course, Michael arrives at a time when the town is comically besieged by a bunch of world-enders anticipating either a miraculous or apocalyptic (it is unclear which) event to occur in the night sky of Sterfontein. However, Michael is absorbed by mysteries and revelations of his own.
The combination of astronomy and biology is truly intriguing (and an essential dual chorus behind the plot), reminding me of ‘Bewilderment’ by Richard Powers. I was unclear why David Ralph Viviers made his main character gay, especially as Michael’s back story of a broken relationship was the least satisfying aspect for me. But every detail here fits together like cogs in an intricate and well-oiled machine, and the reason for this choice is revealed in the final chapter, fittingly called ‘atoms’:
Maybe some day, in a far-off universe, you and I will fly through a sky lit up in colours the human eye cannot see. We’ll soak up the light of our star as we climb, higher and higher. In that world, the sun will always be rising. There’ll be no past or future. No word for want or almost or lost.
February 6, 2023
An absolutely gorgeous novel. Exquisitely written, full of mystery and wonder and pathos - and a few moments of very relatable awkwardness and South African humour. About a university student, Michael, whose research into a long-dead Victorian writer pulls him deep into the Karoo, where his life and hers seem to blur into one across the centuries.
There is such beautiful imagery in this book, and so much to think about - from astrophysics to metaphysics - and yet the heart of the story is deeply personal and human; our attempts to make meaning, to understand our loneliness, to love and to grieve. Bonus points for all the indigenous flora. It’s part love letter to the Karoo and this plant gay reader couldn’t get enough of it.
There is such beautiful imagery in this book, and so much to think about - from astrophysics to metaphysics - and yet the heart of the story is deeply personal and human; our attempts to make meaning, to understand our loneliness, to love and to grieve. Bonus points for all the indigenous flora. It’s part love letter to the Karoo and this plant gay reader couldn’t get enough of it.
September 22, 2023
Beforehand, I thought that time-travel would play a role in this book. It didn't, but I loved it anyway. A magic realist story, dealing with the connections between a female author writing a book at the turn of the 20th century, a young man in current times with the same name as its protagonist, and his mother, who died young.
I found this debut very intriguing and beautifully written. I'm looking forward to further titles from this author.
I found this debut very intriguing and beautifully written. I'm looking forward to further titles from this author.
February 9, 2023
#Mirage – David Ralph Viviers
#Umuzi
Michael stands at the edge of the world and looks up into the eternal stars. He begins stitching the silver threads between them.’ (17)
In 1899 the body of Elizabeth Tenant is found in a hotel in the tiny railway town of Sterfontein in the Tankwa Karoo. A failed nun, she leaves behind nothing, but a failed novel titled ‘Mirage’ about a boy named Michael attempting to capture the moon, and some correspondence with an old friend.
In the present day a literature student, also named Michael, is working on a thesis with Elizabeth as subject. When a trunk bearing her initials, containing her lost journal and what seems to be the body of a baby, is unearthed by a fracking company, he follows her trail of secrets, especially those regarding a man with the initials WB and her firm belief that a scarlet curtain above the desert hid the entrance to another dimension. The discovery of the trunk coincides with gravitational waves resulting from a collision between black holes, causing a disturbance in the universe; believed to be a time where the figurative veil has been temporarily pulled back, creating an opportunity to decipher the deepest secrets of the universe.
Michael has more in common with the fable than merely sharing a first name, however; in the novel a woman who wore a crown of twelve stars upon her head is described walking in the desert, and Michael has lost his mother when he was twelve years old whilst on route with her to Sterfontein. Searching for portals and alternatives all of his life, to him a mirages are ‘…places where the fabric of the earth had worn thin’ (55).
His journey comprises an eclectic mixture of astronomy; biblical prophecies; astrophysics; superstition, botany, and history. Similar to Elizabeth’s experiences noted in her journal, he feels that ‘The world is coming undone. There are holes in the fabric.’ It originated in his childhood years when his parents separated, his father chasing plants and his mother chasing stars; one belonging to the day, the other belonging to the night, and losses thereafter, those providing structure to his life, especially, compounding the belief that ‘…we are truly whole only once, and that is when we first enter the world.’ (185)
This debut novel is rich in symbology and metaphors, the windmills at the entrance of town likened to cherubs guarding the anti-Eden, and natural astrological occurrences to the prophecies contained in the book of Revelation. The reader is challenged to consider the origins and purpose of life; the existence of infinite universes separated by delicate veils, the fluidity of time itself, and the yearning verbalized with poetic beauty on page 12: ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the things we lost in this world merely slipped through a doorway somewhere, into another?’
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Umuzi & Penguin SA Fiction
#Uitdieperdsebek
#Umuzi
Michael stands at the edge of the world and looks up into the eternal stars. He begins stitching the silver threads between them.’ (17)
In 1899 the body of Elizabeth Tenant is found in a hotel in the tiny railway town of Sterfontein in the Tankwa Karoo. A failed nun, she leaves behind nothing, but a failed novel titled ‘Mirage’ about a boy named Michael attempting to capture the moon, and some correspondence with an old friend.
In the present day a literature student, also named Michael, is working on a thesis with Elizabeth as subject. When a trunk bearing her initials, containing her lost journal and what seems to be the body of a baby, is unearthed by a fracking company, he follows her trail of secrets, especially those regarding a man with the initials WB and her firm belief that a scarlet curtain above the desert hid the entrance to another dimension. The discovery of the trunk coincides with gravitational waves resulting from a collision between black holes, causing a disturbance in the universe; believed to be a time where the figurative veil has been temporarily pulled back, creating an opportunity to decipher the deepest secrets of the universe.
Michael has more in common with the fable than merely sharing a first name, however; in the novel a woman who wore a crown of twelve stars upon her head is described walking in the desert, and Michael has lost his mother when he was twelve years old whilst on route with her to Sterfontein. Searching for portals and alternatives all of his life, to him a mirages are ‘…places where the fabric of the earth had worn thin’ (55).
His journey comprises an eclectic mixture of astronomy; biblical prophecies; astrophysics; superstition, botany, and history. Similar to Elizabeth’s experiences noted in her journal, he feels that ‘The world is coming undone. There are holes in the fabric.’ It originated in his childhood years when his parents separated, his father chasing plants and his mother chasing stars; one belonging to the day, the other belonging to the night, and losses thereafter, those providing structure to his life, especially, compounding the belief that ‘…we are truly whole only once, and that is when we first enter the world.’ (185)
This debut novel is rich in symbology and metaphors, the windmills at the entrance of town likened to cherubs guarding the anti-Eden, and natural astrological occurrences to the prophecies contained in the book of Revelation. The reader is challenged to consider the origins and purpose of life; the existence of infinite universes separated by delicate veils, the fluidity of time itself, and the yearning verbalized with poetic beauty on page 12: ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the things we lost in this world merely slipped through a doorway somewhere, into another?’
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Umuzi & Penguin SA Fiction
#Uitdieperdsebek
February 20, 2023
“What is this deep loneliness that pervades the Karoo like an electromagnetic field? You feel like a child again, gripping your mother’s hand, seeing the sky and bushes, the lightning for the first time.”
I loved it! From the first page, this exquisitely written novel took me on a journey of love, and discovery. At times a little cryptic so one has to delve beneath the written word and use one’s imagination, this book combines botany, history, astronomy, astrophysics, superstition and some wonderful characters. It questions love, loneliness and the future at the same time as seeing beauty in the world around you.
Michael is a university student researching a Victorian writer – he goes to the Karoo to discover more about her, where she lived, wrote and died. A thoughtful book, not to be rushed, but enjoyed and contemplated upon.
I loved it! From the first page, this exquisitely written novel took me on a journey of love, and discovery. At times a little cryptic so one has to delve beneath the written word and use one’s imagination, this book combines botany, history, astronomy, astrophysics, superstition and some wonderful characters. It questions love, loneliness and the future at the same time as seeing beauty in the world around you.
Michael is a university student researching a Victorian writer – he goes to the Karoo to discover more about her, where she lived, wrote and died. A thoughtful book, not to be rushed, but enjoyed and contemplated upon.
December 29, 2023
It's difficult to find the words to say what this novel means to me. It's so carefully and sensitively structured that one feels like you're having a very intimate conversation with someone. It's a literary novel in the best sense, with beautiful, sensual prose and a powerful emotional impact. I feel a little wiser for having read it.
March 15, 2023
Wow, such a pleasure to read. I so thoroughly enjoyed this book!
August 20, 2023
Utterly enchanted by this beautifully written book. David Viviers has a quiet theatrical power on stage - and, somehow, he’s brought this stage craft to the page. A deeply meaningful and profound story (completely without pretension) about a heartbroken PhD student who travels to the Karoo to find out more about the subject of his thesis - a 19th century writer - and about himself. His childhood, his recent past, Elizabeth’s life, the cosmos - the interconnectedness of it all. I look forward to the next one.
[Book club, Maire]
[Book club, Maire]
February 22, 2023
After reading this beautifully entwined story of myths, loss, love, light, stars and plants you are reminded that there is beauty all around us - above, below and inside.
We are taken on an adventure of finding light in the darkness.
This story is a South African tale, that you can feel, taste and hear. I could imagine with clarity every place the author led us. The rawness of the characters that tugged deep at my heart strings! Each character came to life with perfection, I can see Renata with her YOU mag and hear Oom Sarel, Michael's journey will stray into my thoughts for a long time.
I look forward to reading more from David in the future.
We are taken on an adventure of finding light in the darkness.
This story is a South African tale, that you can feel, taste and hear. I could imagine with clarity every place the author led us. The rawness of the characters that tugged deep at my heart strings! Each character came to life with perfection, I can see Renata with her YOU mag and hear Oom Sarel, Michael's journey will stray into my thoughts for a long time.
I look forward to reading more from David in the future.
February 23, 2023
WOW!! What a masterpiece. An exploration transcending the limits of time and space. This magical debut follows a young man's search for answers among the bright sky and barren land of the Karoo. It is a journey that is both deeply personal and profoundly universal. I can only aspire to write something as brilliant as this one day.
June 22, 2023
Mirage is the most moving and exquisitely written novel I've read in a long time. I was honestly unable to put it down.
David has a remarkable way with words and I hope to read more from him. The story is fantastic and I could see it being made into a movie, given how vididly the imagery played out in my mind.
I was brought to tears a few times but closed the book with a warmed heart.
Well done and thank you, David 👏
David has a remarkable way with words and I hope to read more from him. The story is fantastic and I could see it being made into a movie, given how vididly the imagery played out in my mind.
I was brought to tears a few times but closed the book with a warmed heart.
Well done and thank you, David 👏
June 13, 2023
Mirage by David Viviers is almost metaphysical - its characters, while separated by time, space and death, reach for each other and tenderly embrace in the barrenness of the Karroo and under a cacophony of stars. It's a beautiful novel, that's thoughtfully drawn. David Viviers is an enormous talent and this is one hell of a debut! Read it!
September 10, 2023
I never publicly review books but this one is so special I couldn't help myself. Mirage is a thing of beauty. A story of magic, of love, of life—told with so much care. I can't recommend this enough, I know I will be thinking about the stories told here for a long time (nevermind dream about the landscape).
September 11, 2023
I love a good mystery that flirts with magical realism, and Mirage by David Ralph Viviers blends so much of what I love. Part Karoo-gothic, part mystery that teases at time-travelling, this is a book that is difficult to fully quantify. And maybe it should not be picked apart, because in its lyrical prose it presents us with lush narrative ambiguity that plays out against the backdrop of the South African hinterlands and all the mysteries that abound there.
We have two threads interwoven in the mythical Karoo town of Sterfontein. On the brink of the South African War, writer Elizabeth Tennant stays here in a hotel frequented by those wishing to convalesce in the Karoo's fresh air. She grapples with her own, deep sense of loss while trying to claim meaning for herself. We also meet Michael, a university student whose deep fascination with the life and work of Elizabeth sees him delving into her journal and the mystery surrounding her death. He, too, carries a great burden of loss, which he subconsciously tries to work through by uncovering the secrets presented in Elizabeth's work.
I really don't want to delve into particulars, because that would ruin the journey for you. And this is a journey, liberally flavoured with the aesthetic of the Karoo's history. Threaded through this tale that blooms like the enigmatic Boophone disticha, are the light of distant stars and delicate strands of past and present woven together in the discrete threads of a surprisingly interlinked narrative.
Grief and disappointment are hallmarks of the human condition, and Viviers takes these aspects of his characters' lives and examines them closely, then puts them together again in a way that made me sit back and say, "Oh." He effortlessly evokes the magic and mystery of this region in a way that only those who've fallen under the Karoo's spell will fully understand. This is an old landscape. It has drunk many tears. In it, you may examine your own life set against an ancient backdrop where you truly understand how insignificant one human life is. And yet each brief flowering is precious.
Much like Elizabeth steps into a liminal space, you do, too, following Michael as he embarks on a road trip that will allow him to confront aspects of self and his past that he has not dealt with, along with gaining a better understanding of the woman whose words have moved him to journey to Sterfontein. Everything is connected; everything is significant.
We have two threads interwoven in the mythical Karoo town of Sterfontein. On the brink of the South African War, writer Elizabeth Tennant stays here in a hotel frequented by those wishing to convalesce in the Karoo's fresh air. She grapples with her own, deep sense of loss while trying to claim meaning for herself. We also meet Michael, a university student whose deep fascination with the life and work of Elizabeth sees him delving into her journal and the mystery surrounding her death. He, too, carries a great burden of loss, which he subconsciously tries to work through by uncovering the secrets presented in Elizabeth's work.
I really don't want to delve into particulars, because that would ruin the journey for you. And this is a journey, liberally flavoured with the aesthetic of the Karoo's history. Threaded through this tale that blooms like the enigmatic Boophone disticha, are the light of distant stars and delicate strands of past and present woven together in the discrete threads of a surprisingly interlinked narrative.
Grief and disappointment are hallmarks of the human condition, and Viviers takes these aspects of his characters' lives and examines them closely, then puts them together again in a way that made me sit back and say, "Oh." He effortlessly evokes the magic and mystery of this region in a way that only those who've fallen under the Karoo's spell will fully understand. This is an old landscape. It has drunk many tears. In it, you may examine your own life set against an ancient backdrop where you truly understand how insignificant one human life is. And yet each brief flowering is precious.
Much like Elizabeth steps into a liminal space, you do, too, following Michael as he embarks on a road trip that will allow him to confront aspects of self and his past that he has not dealt with, along with gaining a better understanding of the woman whose words have moved him to journey to Sterfontein. Everything is connected; everything is significant.
May 19, 2024
Mirage by David Ralph Vivers (@david_viviers) is a poetic tale of mystery and one's desire to find some meaning in this crazy world.
Michael, a newly single university student, becomes fascinated with a Victorian writer named Elizabeth Tenant. Her most famous book has a character with his name, a century old trunk with her belongings has just been discovered, and her journal has some seemingly strange links to him and his cosmologist mother.
What follows is a journey to the Karoo, time jumps and a search for understanding for things both logical and seemingly illogical.
I thoroughly loved the writing of this piece. Michael is an endlessly curious character who struggles with the fact that not everyone sees and feels things the way he does. Elizabeth and Erica are both tragic and beautiful in their stories. I loved Oom Sarel. I found myself curious and swept by this quiet yet demanding tale.
This is a book where you do have to be present when reading, because it will take you between worlds of reality.
If you're ready for the ride, it's a beautiful journey.
Michael, a newly single university student, becomes fascinated with a Victorian writer named Elizabeth Tenant. Her most famous book has a character with his name, a century old trunk with her belongings has just been discovered, and her journal has some seemingly strange links to him and his cosmologist mother.
What follows is a journey to the Karoo, time jumps and a search for understanding for things both logical and seemingly illogical.
I thoroughly loved the writing of this piece. Michael is an endlessly curious character who struggles with the fact that not everyone sees and feels things the way he does. Elizabeth and Erica are both tragic and beautiful in their stories. I loved Oom Sarel. I found myself curious and swept by this quiet yet demanding tale.
This is a book where you do have to be present when reading, because it will take you between worlds of reality.
If you're ready for the ride, it's a beautiful journey.
May 5, 2025
What a truly beautiful book. A true homage to our South African arid landscape known as the karoo.
Beautiful poetic prose, intrigue and some subtle teachings on the fauna native to my country.
This is David's first novel and so deserving of all its acclaim. May he grow from strength to strength.
Beautiful poetic prose, intrigue and some subtle teachings on the fauna native to my country.
This is David's first novel and so deserving of all its acclaim. May he grow from strength to strength.
February 4, 2024
The most beautifully written book, a true work of art!
November 30, 2024
Wow, is all I can say. It is a book that takes your imagination on a journey unlike any other you have ever experienced. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world, David Viviers.
April 25, 2025
Such a beautiful read.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews