GREAT READS FOR DECEMBER, 2017
Born
a Crime, by Trevor Noah
Well,
Trevor has certainly been gifted with the will, but reaching the top has been a
scrambling, rocky ascent – for half-white half-black Trevor shouldn’t have been
born at all: in 80’s Apartheid South
Africa it was legally a crime for the two races to cohabit. Naturally, this didn’t prevent the mingling
of the races, but the punishments were severe:
jail terms of five years or four years (depending on who was doing the
mingling – a black man or woman doing the deed with a European got five years,
but a white European of either sex cohabiting with a native of either sex was
sentenced to four years).
Babies,
the consequences of all this sin, were taken away from their mothers to subsist
in orphanages, kept there until they were teenagers, then released into an
uncaring world where they would always be outsiders because of their
indeterminate colour – at least if you were black or white, you knew WHAT you
were in Apartheid South Africa. You knew
your place. Being pale enough to be
not-quite-white just didn’t cut it.
Trevor’s
mum Patricia, a member of the Xhosa tribe, was well aware of the pitfalls and
trials of bringing a baby into the world, but being of a fiercely independent
and rebellious nature, she decided to have a child anyway, because she wanted a
child to love her and depend on her, somebody of her own – the only problem
being her choice of father: a Swiss
German who was not interested in parenthood, and had to be persuaded over time
to see that it was a good idea.
Really? For when Trevor was born
the can of worms truly opened: Trevor’s
mum had to find a coloured friend to go walking with them , the friend
masquerading as The Mum; Trevor was
never allowed to call his father ‘Daddy’ in public, he had to address him as
‘Robert’, and when Patricia decided to introduce her beloved child to her
estranged Xhosa family in Soweto, she endangered them all in her subterfuge,
for they could not publicly acknowledge Trevor as their new grandson: he was the wrong COLOUR, for Heaven’s sake,
so he was never allowed out of the back yard – from which he frequently
escaped.
For
Trevor was just as rebellious as his beloved mum, and this hugely entertaining
autobiography chronicles his childhood and youth living on the outside even
within his own family, but it demonstrates too, his resilience, resourcefulness
and the enormous optimism and humour required to survive in such adversity.
And
don’t forget prayer! For rebellious
Patricia was so deeply religious that she dragged Trevor off to pray at three
different churches every Sunday, whether he wanted to go or not: the Spiritual, speaking-in-tongues church,
the European church, and the native church.
There: all holy again till next
Sunday. Magic! SIX STARS
The
Last Tudor, by Philippa Gregory
Ms Gregory is justly famous for her fine and meticulously
researched historical novels concerning the power struggles of the Plantagenets
and Tudors, those medieval rulers of England who transformed their little
country into a force to be feared throughout Europe, culminating with Henry
VIII, who broke away from the Catholic Church so that he could marry ‘for love’
and get himself a son – which he did, (after two daughters to two queens) but
his beloved Edward did not live beyond fifteen.
To maintain the strong and legitimate succession of an heir to the
throne in the new and true faith the Privy Council decides on Lady Jane Grey,
great-niece of Henry and eldest of three sisters who are royal princesses in
their own right.
Jane is deeply religious but also conscious of the
responsibilities of her great new office;
she is reluctant to be queen but the only other alternative is Princess
Mary, daughter of Katharine of Aragon – also deeply religious but of the Old
Faith: the people will never accept her!
But they do.
Princess Mary brings an army to London to reinforce her claim as
legitimate heir and Jane, ‘Nine Days a Queen’ is imprisoned in the Tower, where
so many other luckless prisoners have languished. Mary then goes on a royal rampage to avenge
all the members of her faith who have been persecuted by the Protestants. ‘Bloody Mary’ is feared and hated in due
course but no-one escapes her wrath, including Lady Jane the Usurper: she is beheaded, her body quartered and
buried without ceremony in the Tower crypt.
The first Protestant Martyr is in Heaven.
Lady Jane’s two younger sisters, Katherine and Mary, do
not fare well either in their dealings with Queen Mary’s successor Elizabeth,
Henry’s daughter by Anne Boleyn;
Elizabeth has been declared a bastard, hidden from sight and maligned
for most of her young life: now she has the ultimate power, and she and
her powerful council will wield it to England’s best advantage. Her autocracy extends to her
Ladies-in-waiting: none of them may
marry without her permission –which she seldom gives, and when Katherine enters
into a secret marriage with Ned Seymour, handsome son of an ancient and noble
house, Elizabeth’s rage is such that they are both imprisoned in the
Tower. ‘For as long as it may please Her
Majesty.’
For they have produced a child, a healthy boy – an heir
to the Throne - which Elizabeth cannot
achieve, especially as she has no husband.
Her jealousy is absolute and the Grey family endure persecution on the
grand scale, even the youngest sister Mary.
Crouchback Mary, stunted Mary, deformed of stature but
not of heart, ordered to be Elizabeth’s Lady-in-waiting, but still able to
enjoy her life despite the Queen’s best efforts to make her miserable – until
her unpermitted marriage also has her imprisoned. Elizabeth will not be defied, even by a
Little Person.
Each of the Grey sisters narrates their own part in this
hugely entertaining chronicle of a savage and turbulent era: Ms Gregory’s great characterisations and fine
prose enable these giants of history to live again – as well they should. FIVE STARS
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