Press
Release
This novel is due for release in January 2014
Ruth Hartley draws on her own experiences of Africa’s Liberation wars as she tells a tale of
many lives affected by The Shaping of Water
The
Shaping of Water is a
character-driven story, following the different but overlapping lives of those
who are
connected
to a ramshackle cottage by a man-made lake in Central Africa during the
Liberation wars across the region.
“I wrote this book because I love
Zambia,” says Ruth. “I love the people I know there, Lake Kariba and the
cottage.”
The cottage and lake both exist, the
events depicted in the book took place, and although the characters outcomes
are imagined, they have the veracity that comes from a detailed knowledge of
the history, geography and environment of the region.
Whether it be the story of Patrick
the Jesuit, Andy the Selous Scout or Marielise, lover of revolutionaries Jo and
Luke, the novel is imbued with the light, colour and flavour of the landscape,
lake and cottage. From Margaret the banker’s wife, to Natombi and Milimo whose
home is drowned by the lake, and finally Manda, a young woman trying to make
her marriage work, each character is shaped by the rising lake and increasing
violence in Africa.
The
Shaping of Water is a story of damage and survival, passion and uncertainty,
adaptation and love, set against a background of escalating war. It is
the story of a world turned upside-down by cynical politicians and reinvented
by
the
courage of ordinary people, allowing the reader to discover more about a
little-explored place during this period of time.
This is a novel that will affect your
heart, challenge your ideas, and remain in your memory. It will appeal to intelligent and thoughtful lovers of
good fiction, travellers and explorers - both actual and armchair.
“I lived in Africa
throughout the events described in this book, some I learnt of later in my
life, but I care passionately about all their outcomes and I still do. I have
always supported the fight against Apartheid and injustice.”
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comments
Ruth on the inspiration behind her novel
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Born on an African farm in 1943, RUTH HARTLEY attended Art
School in Cape Town. She has travelled back and forth between the UK and Africa
over her life, spending her most recent years travelling throughout Europe. She
now lives in France.
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