Children of Sugarcane, written by Joanne Joseph and reprinted this year by Jonathan Ball Publishers (after its first publishing in 2021), is a skilful and moving work of historical fiction. Beautifully crafted, this is a story that needed to be told and one that certainly left me affected.
Not until I attended Joanne Joseph’s discussion at this year’s Franschhoek Literary Festival did I know much about the indentured labour that went on in South Africa in the 19th century. Following the abolition of slavery, this cruel system of bonded labour was commonly used by the British in Asia, the Caribbean and Africa, including then Port Natal, now KwaZulu-Natal, to enrich the owners of sugar plantations in that province.
During the Lit Fest interview, Joseph spoke very eloquently and engagingly, not only about her novel but also about her tireless quest of researching the history of her maternal family and specifically her great-grandmother Athilatchmy Velu Naiken. Children of Sugarcane required a jaw-dropping nine years’ worth of research, during which Joseph was not only determined to learn more about her own heritage but also how the brutality of the Indian indenture in the Colony of Natal generally impacted the lives of Indian families. Many Indians were duped into signing up for these 'employment opportunities’ with dreams of a better life, good wages, land and even a return passage; none of which ever transpired. Instead, wages were criminally low and conditions atrocious.
The result of Joseph’s painstaking research is a spectacular novel that had me equal parts enlightened, fascinated and furious. Written with great tenderness and lyricism, Children of Sugarcane paints an intimate and wretched picture of indenture. It is narrated by 14-year-old Shanti who grows up in a village in rural India and who, taught by a kind-hearted old woman, learns to read and write but soon realises that her hunger for further education will come to naught if she stays. She also faces the prospect of arranged marriage, the prejudice of caste, and, as a woman, not much of a meaningful future at all, so she decides to flee her family home.
She learns of a mythical paradise on the east coast of South Africa where she could earn lots of money to bring back to her family and then be free to be whatever, and marry whoever, she pleases. This dream turns into a nightmare practically as soon as she sets foot on the ship that would carry her across the Indian Ocean, aboard which she suffers maltreatment that fills her with immense trepidation of what may be in store when she lands.
These fears come to fruition when the ship docks in Natal where, after a harrowing voyage, she is plunged into further misery, hardship and slave labour in all but name. Shanti’s story is nuanced and her life on the sugar plantation is filled with much intrigue, populated with an array of fascinating characters, somewhat improved by deep and meaningful friendships and romance, but ultimately rendered horrific by a slew of violent beatings, rape, murders and other atrocities.
Children of Sugarcane exposes the brutality of British colonialism in both India and South Africa; and how the wicked combination of imperialism, racism, patriarchy and casteism resulted in the inhumane practice of indentured labour and the horrific treatment of labourers – women in particular – in British colonies, of which Port Natal was one.
Of course, this wasn’t the only grim product of prejudice that South Africa would suffer during the following few centuries, and Joseph’s novel hammers home the point that we recognise, acknowledge and guard against such evil, lest it is repeated once again. ‘…the past is neither carved in stone alone, nor recorded singularly by the quill. Perhaps it is etched into the flesh, bones and memory of human beings, and travels silently into the veins of our descendants. Perhaps the only measure of hope lies in the future. For as long it remains unwritten, it is all we mere mortals have the power to change.’
Spanning four decades and two continents, Children of Sugarcane demonstrates the life-giving and transcendent power of courage, education, love and the indestructible bonds between family and friends. It is an awe-inspiring read, and I recommend you do yourself a favour.
Comments