Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A rich, intergenerational tale of love, race, power and secrets which centres on the lifelong friendship between two women.
Soul Sisters
What you need to know before your trail
Since childhood, Jen and Kemi have lived like sisters in the McFadden family home in Edinburgh, brought together by a shared family history which stretches back generations. Kemi was educated in Britain alongside Jen and the girls could not be closer; nor could they be more different in the paths they take in life. But the ties that bind them are strong and complicated, and a dark family secret exists in their joint history.
Solam Matsunyane is from South Africa’s black political elite. Handsome, charismatic, charming, and a successful young banker, he meets both Kemi and Jen on a trip to London and sweeps them off their feet. Partly influenced by her interest in Solam, and partly on a journey of self-discovery, Kemi, now 31, decides to return to the country of her birth for the first time. Jen, seeking an escape from her father’s overbearing presence, decides to go with her.
In Johannesburg, it becomes clear that Solam is looking for the perfect wife to facilitate his soaring political ambitions. But who will he choose? All the while, the real story behind the two families’ connection threatens to reveal itself – with devastating consequences . . .
Locations
ResetTravel Guide
From Rhodesia to Edinburgh via Robben Island
Rhodesia
The novel opens up in Rhodesia. Rhodesia, officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979. It’s about the size of modern day Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the de facto successor state to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia.
Robben Island
Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for “seal island.” It was fortified and used as a prison from the late 17th century to 1996, after the end of apartheid. Nelson Mandela is perhaps its most famous former prisoner.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Soul Sisters
Destination/location: South Africa, Edinburgh Author/guide: Lesley Lokko Departure Time: 2000s
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