| Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood Contributor(s): Slaughter, Carolyn (Author) |
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ISBN: 0375713468 ISBN-13: 9780375713460 Publisher: Vintage OUR PRICE: $10.80 Product Type: Paperback Published: May 2003 Annotation: In this unforgettable memoir, acclaimed novelist Carolyn Slaughter recalls her childhood in Africa and how the land itself released her from a rage that threatened to destroy her. For Carolyn Slaughter, who grew up in Botswana in the 1950s, it was the Kalahari Desert that made life bearable. Her father was a cruel and violent district commissioner during the last days of British colonial rule, and their family's stiff English facade masked an unspeakable household secret. But out in the bush, the intensity of the air and the beauty of the landscape touched her with a kind of feverish grace. She would disappear for hours to watch the flat brown river with its water lilies and crocodiles; the thorn trees and the flocks of flamingos; the local women with their babies strapped to their backs. Filled with the majesty and splendor of the ever-changing desert, Before The Knife" is the deeply moving story of a girl who endured and transcended her family's violence to emerge an impassioned observer and explicator of her world. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs - Biography & Autobiography | Women - Social Science | Sexual Abuse & Harassment |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2001042347 |
| Physical Information: 0.66" H x 5.18" W x 8.02" (0.56 lbs) 240 pages |
| Accelerated Reader Info |
| Quiz #: 66934 Reading Level: 6.5 Interest Level: Upper Grades Point Value: 12.0 |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In this unforgettable memoir, acclaimed novelist Carolyn Slaughter recalls her childhood in Africa and how the land itself released her from a rage that threatened to destroy her. For Carolyn Slaughter, who grew up in Botswana in the 1950s, it was the Kalahari Desert that made life bearable. Her father was a cruel and violent district commissioner during the last days of British colonial rule, and their family's stiff English facade masked an unspeakable household secret. But out in the bush, the intensity of the air and the beauty of the landscape touched her with a kind of feverish grace. She would disappear for hours to watch the flat brown river with its water lilies and crocodiles; the thorn trees and the flocks of flamingos; the local women with their babies strapped to their backs. Filled with the majesty and splendor of the ever-changing desert, Before The Knife is the deeply moving story of a girl who endured and transcended her family's violence to emerge an impassioned observer and explicator of her world. |