At the heart of this novel lies the history of South Africa. The story of the Swart family, which spread over a significant four-decade period, is intricately woven into the social, political, and cultural changes in their home country, providing a rich context to their narrative. This extensive backdrop is one of the redeeming qualities of this novel. Another is the engaging tone and lucid language used by the author.

Without these, the readers might struggle to connect with the stories of Manie, the head of the family, his wife Rachel, and their three children, Anton, Astrid, and Amor.

The Swart husband and wife, who have psychologically distanced from each other when critically ill Rachel has taken refuge in her old religion, are part of a family struggling to stay together.  But it’s his love for her that pushes him to the brink of spirituality, and he dedicates his life to building a church on his land after her sudden and untimely death leaves him heartbroken. In this process, their children are more or less neglected.

Unlike them, their home is well taken care of, thanks to Salome. Salome is their domestic help living in a nearby old house on their land. Rachel’s wish was to give ownership of that house along with the land on which it stands to Salome, and Manie promised that to his wife. 

But one after another, tragic and untimely deaths shake the Swart family, without the promise to Salome being fulfilled. As it turns out, the promise is only remembered by the youngest sibling- Amor. 

As I said, the novel’s premise is good, but somewhere down the line, the execution falters. As readers, we can immediately connect with the emotional start of the novel and how losing their mother at such a young age impacts all three children in different manners. Somehow, we can connect to the young child Amor and her affectionate feelings towards Salome. Although it becomes difficult to establish such an emotional connection with her siblings, sadly that trend continues throughout the rest of the book. 

Then the story becomes about a well-meaning promise hanging on a family’s head and how the youngest daughter makes it her life mission to fulfil it. However, noble her intentions might be, we cannot relate to her reasons for cutting off her family and familial environment and taking extreme measures to punish herself as if she is blaming herself for what happened to that promise.  

Similarly, Anton’s character graph wavers between a good and pampered boy and an army deserter hell bent on destroying his life. Unfortunately, there is not much thought given to the eldest of these three- Astrid whose backstory involves marriage and kids. But looking at all the remaining characters, she seems to be living a typical suburban life that ends up in a horrific incident.

So their story comes to a full circle where it started by the promise landing at Amor’s feet while her family fails financially, spiritually, culturally and morally to fulfil it throughout their lifespan. As I said before, it is very much story of their birth nation like it is of their family and we see the similar decadence spreading across South Africa in these four decades.

It is to author’s credit that he narrates the plot in such a way to connect us to that larger picture playing in the background, but while doing so, the finer details of the Swart saga fail in garnering any empathies from its readers. All in all, I will recommend it as a one time read.