Hum If You Don’t Know The Words published in early July and I had the honor of asking the author, Bianca Marais, some questions about the profound story she told through the experiences of two very different characters in South Africa in the 1970s. Retrieve credentials. Full access is for members only.
RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2019. Publisher: G.P. I would in no way classify the book as a suspense novel, but there were just enough questions to really keep me engaged. Robin is one of the novel’s two main characters and one of the joint narrators.
Search:
Publication Information. - Tara Conklin, author of The House Girl
| I can always pick it up again down the line. Masterful and memorable." I went into this book a little blind. Hum If You Don’t Know the Words – Review. I think she’s a fantastic writer. The Soweto uprising, gold mines, a white orphan with a black nanny named Beauty—these are among the motifs and characters of Bianca Marais’s radiant Hum If You Don’t Know the Words, set in turbulent 1970s Johannesburg.While much of the debut novel is an exploration of racial tensions and a girl’s coming-of-age, it’s also a stirring ode to a country’s painful maturation. At first this seemed endearing, but quickly got old for me.
Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. It was so fantastic. by
They’re always appreciated. Robin is floundering after she’s sent to live with her aunt, and is trying to put off dealing with her grief so that she can find some security. Hum If You Don’t Know The Words published in early July and I had the honor of asking the author, Bianca Marais, some questions about the profound story she told through the experiences of two very different characters in South Africa in the 1970s. Reviewed by Norah Piehl on July 14, 2017. Beauty’s search for Nomsa leads her to Robin’s aunt, who hires Beauty as a caretaker for Robin so she can remain in the city and continue her quest to find her daughter. "Bianca Marais's compassionate debut paints a picture of the alternately beautiful and tragic strategies we humans employ to meet our needs for love. They’re both cast adrift when we meet them. And if we’re not racist, then what are we doing to address the racism of others? Reader Reviews. With passion and grace Marais makes the political personal and the personal intimate."
Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants.
Jul 2017
I feel like that’s a cop out…why not just give her a real friend named Cat? The narrative frame for Atwood's dystopian vision is the hopeless private testimony of one of these surrogate mothers, Offred ("of" plus the name of her male protector).
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info, and giveaways by email. I’d like people to look at their own lives and themselves and address the inherent beliefs that shape their interactions with anyone who is different from them, and then acknowledge where their thinking is ill informed or biased.
My heart broke for her so much and getting to write about her healed me.
- Ania Szado, bestselling author of Studio Saint-Ex
It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller. Before turning to writing, she started a corporate training company and volunteered with Cotlands, where she assisted care workers in Soweto with providing aid for HIV/AIDS orphans. Where is Beauty’s daughter? The uprising marked the turning point in the fight to end Apartheid and was what Bianca Marais used as the catalyst for her debut. Hum If You Don't Know the Words is an exciting and compassionate novel about a period of devastating cruelty in South African history.
"Bianca Marais parts the curtain on an unexpected view of Apartheid-era South Africa in this gutsy, surprising, and richly imagined tale. "An important contribution to literature about racism in South Africa...it's a powerful story and one with a perspective many of us haven't read." Also, I’m not sure how much interest there would be in a sequel.
I'm so speechless that I am using a thesaurus to think of the best words possible to illustrate it. Reviewed by Norah Piehl on July 14, 2017. He’s also incredibly kind-hearted and every scene he was in made me laugh and it made me sad at the same time. I found the play between Robin and Cat to be annoying.
Originally from South Africa, she now resides in Toronto with her husband. While the attack is a sin, the response is wondrous and wounding and an illustration of the resiliency that can transcend the color of a person's skin." The most difficult scenes to write were ones with Beauty where she’s subjected to racism in a restroom and then near the end of the book which I don’t want to reveal too much about. You've disabled JavaScript in your web browser. - Jennifer Chiaverini, author of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Fates and Traitors
- Kirkus
It’s just stunning and inspired me so much. We may not be actively racist, but that doesn’t mean we don’t harbour beliefs that are damaging.
My favourites scenes were the ones with King George who is a coloured man (this is the term South Africans officially use for people who are ‘mixed race’).
I found a profound significance in the title as it relates to Robin’s experiences throughout the book, was this intentional? Set in South Africa in 1978, this is the story of Robin, a white child, and Beauty, a black mother, both of whom experience immense loss … On a fateful day in June 1976, violence on the streets of Soweto forever entwines the lives of … Also, she used Cat when there were feelings/emotions she couldn’t deal with herself. Renée Nault.
A fractured and wounded society is one that is rife with anger, poverty and violence. “Hum If You Don't Know the Words is a marvel. Another book coming out in January 2018 called The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin took my breath away. Atwood, to her credit, creates a chillingly specific, imaginable night-mare. I’d settled on the title very early on in the book because it was a metaphor for so much of what both Robin and Beauty are going through. My heart went out to this poor girl trying to bravely carry on under horrendous circumstances. An enthralling epic about two trailblazing female doctors in 19th century New York.
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. Margaret Atwood After the uprising, Beauty used every resource she could to stay in Johannesburg and search for her missing daughter.
Were there any that you found particularly difficult? Powerful and poetic.
adapted and illustrated by As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Magazine Subscribers (How to Find Your Reader Number). 432 pages
When she got word that her daughter might be headed for trouble, Beauty made the difficult decision to leave her two sons, travel to Johannesburg, and bring Nomsa home.
Her favorite books are Enid Blyton stories, the Faraway Tree and the Secret Seven in particular. "—Michele Campbell. Despite seeing flaws in Robin, I really liked Hum if You Don’t Know the Words. They’re both just treading water to stop themselves from going under, which the title captures about their situations. To the novel’s credit, the double point of view structure adds nuance and depth to the twice-told scenes, and the story never fails to create a sense of urgency at every narrative development.
It almost felt like Marais was leaving loose ends for a sequel. - Rebecca Wells, author of The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel
Nan A. Talese, Legendary Publisher, Is Retiring, Bernardine Evaristo Shares Booker Prize with Atwood. Cat – Robin had an imaginary friend, Cat. It was so heartfelt and emotional without dragging me down. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband’s death. "Expertly crafted, both lyrical and gripping, with some truly poignant moments especially pertaining to parenthood." Beauty has to leave her homeland and enter dangerous and unknown territory in order to search for her activist daughter who has gone missing. Heartbreaking and tragic. He’s a tragic figure who has had a very difficult life and experienced so much trauma and yet his outlook is so positive and he’s hilarious. Disclosure: There are Amazon Associate links included within this post.
It will be a long time before the reader forgets the novel's compelling characters, and the tremendous determination, yearning, and humanity with which they navigate complex emotional landscapes in their intersecting quests for connection, family, and justice."
Lying cradled by the body of the barren wife, being meanwhile serviced by the husband, Offred's "ceremony" must be successful—if she does not want to join the ranks of the other disappeared (which include her mother, her husband—dead—and small daughter, all taken away during the years of revolt). Author
Hum If You Don’t Know The Words published in early July and I had the honor of asking the author, Bianca Marais, some questions about the profound story she told through the experiences of two very different characters in South Africa in the 1970s. Retrieve credentials. Full access is for members only.
RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2019. Publisher: G.P. I would in no way classify the book as a suspense novel, but there were just enough questions to really keep me engaged. Robin is one of the novel’s two main characters and one of the joint narrators.
Search:
Publication Information. - Tara Conklin, author of The House Girl
| I can always pick it up again down the line. Masterful and memorable." I went into this book a little blind. Hum If You Don’t Know the Words – Review. I think she’s a fantastic writer. The Soweto uprising, gold mines, a white orphan with a black nanny named Beauty—these are among the motifs and characters of Bianca Marais’s radiant Hum If You Don’t Know the Words, set in turbulent 1970s Johannesburg.While much of the debut novel is an exploration of racial tensions and a girl’s coming-of-age, it’s also a stirring ode to a country’s painful maturation. At first this seemed endearing, but quickly got old for me.
Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. It was so fantastic. by
They’re always appreciated. Robin is floundering after she’s sent to live with her aunt, and is trying to put off dealing with her grief so that she can find some security. Hum If You Don’t Know The Words published in early July and I had the honor of asking the author, Bianca Marais, some questions about the profound story she told through the experiences of two very different characters in South Africa in the 1970s. Reviewed by Norah Piehl on July 14, 2017. Beauty’s search for Nomsa leads her to Robin’s aunt, who hires Beauty as a caretaker for Robin so she can remain in the city and continue her quest to find her daughter. "Bianca Marais's compassionate debut paints a picture of the alternately beautiful and tragic strategies we humans employ to meet our needs for love. They’re both cast adrift when we meet them. And if we’re not racist, then what are we doing to address the racism of others? Reader Reviews. With passion and grace Marais makes the political personal and the personal intimate."
Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants.
Jul 2017
I feel like that’s a cop out…why not just give her a real friend named Cat? The narrative frame for Atwood's dystopian vision is the hopeless private testimony of one of these surrogate mothers, Offred ("of" plus the name of her male protector).
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info, and giveaways by email. I’d like people to look at their own lives and themselves and address the inherent beliefs that shape their interactions with anyone who is different from them, and then acknowledge where their thinking is ill informed or biased.
My heart broke for her so much and getting to write about her healed me.
- Ania Szado, bestselling author of Studio Saint-Ex
It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller. Before turning to writing, she started a corporate training company and volunteered with Cotlands, where she assisted care workers in Soweto with providing aid for HIV/AIDS orphans. Where is Beauty’s daughter? The uprising marked the turning point in the fight to end Apartheid and was what Bianca Marais used as the catalyst for her debut. Hum If You Don't Know the Words is an exciting and compassionate novel about a period of devastating cruelty in South African history.
"Bianca Marais parts the curtain on an unexpected view of Apartheid-era South Africa in this gutsy, surprising, and richly imagined tale. "An important contribution to literature about racism in South Africa...it's a powerful story and one with a perspective many of us haven't read." Also, I’m not sure how much interest there would be in a sequel.
I'm so speechless that I am using a thesaurus to think of the best words possible to illustrate it. Reviewed by Norah Piehl on July 14, 2017. He’s also incredibly kind-hearted and every scene he was in made me laugh and it made me sad at the same time. I found the play between Robin and Cat to be annoying.
Originally from South Africa, she now resides in Toronto with her husband. While the attack is a sin, the response is wondrous and wounding and an illustration of the resiliency that can transcend the color of a person's skin." The most difficult scenes to write were ones with Beauty where she’s subjected to racism in a restroom and then near the end of the book which I don’t want to reveal too much about. You've disabled JavaScript in your web browser. - Jennifer Chiaverini, author of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Fates and Traitors
- Kirkus
It’s just stunning and inspired me so much. We may not be actively racist, but that doesn’t mean we don’t harbour beliefs that are damaging.
My favourites scenes were the ones with King George who is a coloured man (this is the term South Africans officially use for people who are ‘mixed race’).
I found a profound significance in the title as it relates to Robin’s experiences throughout the book, was this intentional? Set in South Africa in 1978, this is the story of Robin, a white child, and Beauty, a black mother, both of whom experience immense loss … On a fateful day in June 1976, violence on the streets of Soweto forever entwines the lives of … Also, she used Cat when there were feelings/emotions she couldn’t deal with herself. Renée Nault.
A fractured and wounded society is one that is rife with anger, poverty and violence. “Hum If You Don't Know the Words is a marvel. Another book coming out in January 2018 called The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin took my breath away. Atwood, to her credit, creates a chillingly specific, imaginable night-mare. I’d settled on the title very early on in the book because it was a metaphor for so much of what both Robin and Beauty are going through. My heart went out to this poor girl trying to bravely carry on under horrendous circumstances. An enthralling epic about two trailblazing female doctors in 19th century New York.
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. Margaret Atwood After the uprising, Beauty used every resource she could to stay in Johannesburg and search for her missing daughter.
Were there any that you found particularly difficult? Powerful and poetic.
adapted and illustrated by As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Magazine Subscribers (How to Find Your Reader Number). 432 pages
When she got word that her daughter might be headed for trouble, Beauty made the difficult decision to leave her two sons, travel to Johannesburg, and bring Nomsa home.
Her favorite books are Enid Blyton stories, the Faraway Tree and the Secret Seven in particular. "—Michele Campbell. Despite seeing flaws in Robin, I really liked Hum if You Don’t Know the Words. They’re both just treading water to stop themselves from going under, which the title captures about their situations. To the novel’s credit, the double point of view structure adds nuance and depth to the twice-told scenes, and the story never fails to create a sense of urgency at every narrative development.
It almost felt like Marais was leaving loose ends for a sequel. - Rebecca Wells, author of The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel
Nan A. Talese, Legendary Publisher, Is Retiring, Bernardine Evaristo Shares Booker Prize with Atwood. Cat – Robin had an imaginary friend, Cat. It was so heartfelt and emotional without dragging me down. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband’s death. "Expertly crafted, both lyrical and gripping, with some truly poignant moments especially pertaining to parenthood." Beauty has to leave her homeland and enter dangerous and unknown territory in order to search for her activist daughter who has gone missing. Heartbreaking and tragic. He’s a tragic figure who has had a very difficult life and experienced so much trauma and yet his outlook is so positive and he’s hilarious. Disclosure: There are Amazon Associate links included within this post.
It will be a long time before the reader forgets the novel's compelling characters, and the tremendous determination, yearning, and humanity with which they navigate complex emotional landscapes in their intersecting quests for connection, family, and justice."
Lying cradled by the body of the barren wife, being meanwhile serviced by the husband, Offred's "ceremony" must be successful—if she does not want to join the ranks of the other disappeared (which include her mother, her husband—dead—and small daughter, all taken away during the years of revolt). Author
"Starred Review. I would have liked to see more resolution in Beauty’s story.
Hum If You Don’t Know The Words published in early July and I had the honor of asking the author, Bianca Marais, some questions about the profound story she told through the experiences of two very different characters in South Africa in the 1970s. Retrieve credentials. Full access is for members only.
RELEASE DATE: Sept. 10, 2019. Publisher: G.P. I would in no way classify the book as a suspense novel, but there were just enough questions to really keep me engaged. Robin is one of the novel’s two main characters and one of the joint narrators.
Search:
Publication Information. - Tara Conklin, author of The House Girl
| I can always pick it up again down the line. Masterful and memorable." I went into this book a little blind. Hum If You Don’t Know the Words – Review. I think she’s a fantastic writer. The Soweto uprising, gold mines, a white orphan with a black nanny named Beauty—these are among the motifs and characters of Bianca Marais’s radiant Hum If You Don’t Know the Words, set in turbulent 1970s Johannesburg.While much of the debut novel is an exploration of racial tensions and a girl’s coming-of-age, it’s also a stirring ode to a country’s painful maturation. At first this seemed endearing, but quickly got old for me.
Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. It was so fantastic. by
They’re always appreciated. Robin is floundering after she’s sent to live with her aunt, and is trying to put off dealing with her grief so that she can find some security. Hum If You Don’t Know The Words published in early July and I had the honor of asking the author, Bianca Marais, some questions about the profound story she told through the experiences of two very different characters in South Africa in the 1970s. Reviewed by Norah Piehl on July 14, 2017. Beauty’s search for Nomsa leads her to Robin’s aunt, who hires Beauty as a caretaker for Robin so she can remain in the city and continue her quest to find her daughter. "Bianca Marais's compassionate debut paints a picture of the alternately beautiful and tragic strategies we humans employ to meet our needs for love. They’re both cast adrift when we meet them. And if we’re not racist, then what are we doing to address the racism of others? Reader Reviews. With passion and grace Marais makes the political personal and the personal intimate."
Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants.
Jul 2017
I feel like that’s a cop out…why not just give her a real friend named Cat? The narrative frame for Atwood's dystopian vision is the hopeless private testimony of one of these surrogate mothers, Offred ("of" plus the name of her male protector).
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info, and giveaways by email. I’d like people to look at their own lives and themselves and address the inherent beliefs that shape their interactions with anyone who is different from them, and then acknowledge where their thinking is ill informed or biased.
My heart broke for her so much and getting to write about her healed me.
- Ania Szado, bestselling author of Studio Saint-Ex
It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller. Before turning to writing, she started a corporate training company and volunteered with Cotlands, where she assisted care workers in Soweto with providing aid for HIV/AIDS orphans. Where is Beauty’s daughter? The uprising marked the turning point in the fight to end Apartheid and was what Bianca Marais used as the catalyst for her debut. Hum If You Don't Know the Words is an exciting and compassionate novel about a period of devastating cruelty in South African history.
"Bianca Marais parts the curtain on an unexpected view of Apartheid-era South Africa in this gutsy, surprising, and richly imagined tale. "An important contribution to literature about racism in South Africa...it's a powerful story and one with a perspective many of us haven't read." Also, I’m not sure how much interest there would be in a sequel.
I'm so speechless that I am using a thesaurus to think of the best words possible to illustrate it. Reviewed by Norah Piehl on July 14, 2017. He’s also incredibly kind-hearted and every scene he was in made me laugh and it made me sad at the same time. I found the play between Robin and Cat to be annoying.
Originally from South Africa, she now resides in Toronto with her husband. While the attack is a sin, the response is wondrous and wounding and an illustration of the resiliency that can transcend the color of a person's skin." The most difficult scenes to write were ones with Beauty where she’s subjected to racism in a restroom and then near the end of the book which I don’t want to reveal too much about. You've disabled JavaScript in your web browser. - Jennifer Chiaverini, author of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and Fates and Traitors
- Kirkus
It’s just stunning and inspired me so much. We may not be actively racist, but that doesn’t mean we don’t harbour beliefs that are damaging.
My favourites scenes were the ones with King George who is a coloured man (this is the term South Africans officially use for people who are ‘mixed race’).
I found a profound significance in the title as it relates to Robin’s experiences throughout the book, was this intentional? Set in South Africa in 1978, this is the story of Robin, a white child, and Beauty, a black mother, both of whom experience immense loss … On a fateful day in June 1976, violence on the streets of Soweto forever entwines the lives of … Also, she used Cat when there were feelings/emotions she couldn’t deal with herself. Renée Nault.
A fractured and wounded society is one that is rife with anger, poverty and violence. “Hum If You Don't Know the Words is a marvel. Another book coming out in January 2018 called The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin took my breath away. Atwood, to her credit, creates a chillingly specific, imaginable night-mare. I’d settled on the title very early on in the book because it was a metaphor for so much of what both Robin and Beauty are going through. My heart went out to this poor girl trying to bravely carry on under horrendous circumstances. An enthralling epic about two trailblazing female doctors in 19th century New York.
Hum If You Don't Know the Words by Bianca Marais. In most cases, the reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. Margaret Atwood After the uprising, Beauty used every resource she could to stay in Johannesburg and search for her missing daughter.
Were there any that you found particularly difficult? Powerful and poetic.
adapted and illustrated by As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Magazine Subscribers (How to Find Your Reader Number). 432 pages
When she got word that her daughter might be headed for trouble, Beauty made the difficult decision to leave her two sons, travel to Johannesburg, and bring Nomsa home.
Her favorite books are Enid Blyton stories, the Faraway Tree and the Secret Seven in particular. "—Michele Campbell. Despite seeing flaws in Robin, I really liked Hum if You Don’t Know the Words. They’re both just treading water to stop themselves from going under, which the title captures about their situations. To the novel’s credit, the double point of view structure adds nuance and depth to the twice-told scenes, and the story never fails to create a sense of urgency at every narrative development.
It almost felt like Marais was leaving loose ends for a sequel. - Rebecca Wells, author of The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel
Nan A. Talese, Legendary Publisher, Is Retiring, Bernardine Evaristo Shares Booker Prize with Atwood. Cat – Robin had an imaginary friend, Cat. It was so heartfelt and emotional without dragging me down. In the same nation but worlds apart, Beauty Mbali, a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei, struggles to raise her children alone after her husband’s death. "Expertly crafted, both lyrical and gripping, with some truly poignant moments especially pertaining to parenthood." Beauty has to leave her homeland and enter dangerous and unknown territory in order to search for her activist daughter who has gone missing. Heartbreaking and tragic. He’s a tragic figure who has had a very difficult life and experienced so much trauma and yet his outlook is so positive and he’s hilarious. Disclosure: There are Amazon Associate links included within this post.
It will be a long time before the reader forgets the novel's compelling characters, and the tremendous determination, yearning, and humanity with which they navigate complex emotional landscapes in their intersecting quests for connection, family, and justice."
Lying cradled by the body of the barren wife, being meanwhile serviced by the husband, Offred's "ceremony" must be successful—if she does not want to join the ranks of the other disappeared (which include her mother, her husband—dead—and small daughter, all taken away during the years of revolt). Author