Philida: A Review
In my reviews of novels longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012, I now turn to: André Brink’s latest novel, Philida, seems very personal. It tells the story of a slave woman, Philida, in the years and months before the emancipation of the slaves hits South Africa, in 1834. She is indentured to the Brink family, and she has been in a sexual relationship with the son, Fran çois, and has four children by him. Philida has gone to the magistrate to make a complaint against Fran çois: he promised her freedom and is now reneging on the deal. But the Brink family are on the verge of bankruptcy, and nobody is buying slaves, and they are working less efficiently now they know that freedom is coming. The lives of everybody involved in this story are about to change – the whole world is about to change. The opening of Brink’s novel marks Philida out as a unique and forthright young woman. It takes courage to speak to a magistrat...