Read E-Book Online The Syringa Tree

The Syringa Tree - In this heartrending and inspiring novel set against the gorgeous, vast landscape of South Africa under apartheid, award-winning playwright Pamela Gien tells the story of two familiesone black, one whiteseparated by racism, connected by love. Even at the age of six, lively, inquisitive Elizabeth Grace senses shes a child of privilege, a lucky fish. Soothing her worries by raiding the sugar box, she scampers up into the sheltering arms of the lilac-blooming syringa tree growing behind the family s suburban Johannesburg home. Lizzies closest ally and greatest love is her Xhosa nanny, Salamina. Deeper and more elemental than any traditional friendship, their fierce devotion to each other is charged and complicated by Lizzies mother, who suffers from creeping melancholy, by the stresses of her fathers medical practice, which is segregated by law, and by the violence, injustice, and intoxicating beauty of their country. In the social and racial upheavals of the 1960s, Lizzies eyes open to the terror and inhumanity that paralyze all the nations culturesXhosa, Zulu, Jew, English, Boer. Pass laws requiring blacks to carry permission papers for white areas and stringent curfews have briefly created an orderly statebut an anxious one. Yet Lizzies home harbors its own set of rules, with hushed midnight gatherings, clandestine transactions, and the girls special task of protecting Salaminas newborn childa secret that, because of the new rules, must never be mentioned outside the walls of the house. As the months pass, the contagious spirit of change sends those once underground into the streets to challenge the ruling authority. And when this unrest reaches a social and personal climax, the unthinkable will happen and forever change Lizzies view of the world. When The Syringa Tree opened off-Broadway in 2001, theater critics and audiences alike embraced the play, and it won many awards. Pamela Gien has superbly deepened the story in this new novel, giving a personal voice to the horrors and hopes of her homeland. Written with lyricism, passion, and life-affirming redemption, this compelling story shows the healing of the heart of a young woman and the soul of a sundered nation.


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Book Details

⚡️Book Title : The Syringa Tree
⚡Book Author : Pamela Gien
⚡Page : 262 pages
⚡Published June 27th 2006 by Random House (first published January 2003)

The Syringa Tree

In this heartrending and inspiring novel set against the gorgeous, vast landscape of South Africa under apartheid, award-winning playwright Pamela Gien tells the story of two familiesone black, one whiteseparated by racism, connected by love. Even at the age of six, lively, inquisitive Elizabeth Grace senses shes a child of privilege, a lucky fish. Soothing her worries by raiding the sugar box, she scampers up into the sheltering arms of the lilac-blooming syringa tree growing behind the family s suburban Johannesburg home. Lizzies closest ally and greatest love is her Xhosa nanny, Salamina. Deeper and more elemental than any traditional friendship, their fierce devotion to each other is charged and complicated by Lizzies mother, who suffers from creeping melancholy, by the stresses of her fathers medical practice, which is segregated by law, and by the violence, injustice, and intoxicating beauty of their country. In the social and racial upheavals of the 1960s, Lizzies eyes open to the terror and inhumanity that paralyze all the nations culturesXhosa, Zulu, Jew, English, Boer. Pass laws requiring blacks to carry permission papers for white areas and stringent curfews have briefly created an orderly statebut an anxious one. Yet Lizzies home harbors its own set of rules, with hushed midnight gatherings, clandestine transactions, and the girls special task of protecting Salaminas newborn childa secret that, because of the new rules, must never be mentioned outside the walls of the house. As the months pass, the contagious spirit of change sends those once underground into the streets to challenge the ruling authority. And when this unrest reaches a social and personal climax, the unthinkable will happen and forever change Lizzies view of the world. When The Syringa Tree opened off-Broadway in 2001, theater critics and audiences alike embraced the play, and it won many awards. Pamela Gien has superbly deepened the story in this new novel, giving a personal voice to the horrors and hopes of her homeland. Written with lyricism, passion, and life-affirming redemption, this compelling story shows the healing of the heart of a young woman and the soul of a sundered nation.