Dimensions
130 x 197 x 20mm
In 1962, at the age of five, Chris van Wyk went to school for the first time. Within days he learnt to recite Psalm 23. Bursting with pride, he rushed home to show off his newly acquired knowledge to his mother, Shirley. So taken was she with his accomplished delivery, she burst into fits of laughter. Soon others, too, were accorded the privilege of listening to him – again and again. And every time they responded as his mother had. So he carried on undaunted: "... Shirley, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
The malapropism aptly reflects the tone of this heart-warming childhood memoir.
Despite van Wyk's later becoming involved in the anti-apartheid "struggle", this is not a book about racial politics. Instead, it is a delightful account of one boy's special relationship with the relatives, friends and neighbours – often decidedly quirky – who made up his community, and of the important coping role laughter and humour played during the years he spent in bleak, dusty townships.
In Shirley, Goodness & Mercy, Chris van Wyk – poet, novelist and short story writer – has created a truly remarkable record of life in coloured community at once both informative and vastly entertaining.
