Frats | General Fiction

Chris Karsten

ATKV Prize for Prose (2008)

This poignant novel is based on the life story of Saartje Baartman. It tells of Khoena, a Khoi woman, who is taken from the Cape to London early in the 19th century, where she is displayed in freak shows.

It is also the story of an English woman Dolly and her journalist friend who become involved in an attempt to help the people abused in these shows. In this way they befriend Khoena, but in the end they are powerless to prevent her final humiliation at the hands of scientists in France.

The author brings the period and characters to life in a novel which becomes a powerful indictment of injustice.