A HANDFUL OF EARTH, translated from the Afrikaans by Brenda Jackson

227pp., paperback, Cape Town, 2017

Originally published in Afrikaans in 2014 as "Die Sideboard".

A novel about Abraham, an illiterate carpenter who lives on a rented piece of land near George. He loves the soil and the fruit and vegetables he produces on it, and dreams of one day owning a piece of land, but this ambition is crushed repeatedly by the political system of the time.

"Narrates the debilitating influence of losing one's land, an impunity that continues as no redress is forthcoming from the new democratic elite. A very important South African story." Danny Titus, Commissioner at the South African Human Rights Commission

Actor Simon Bruinders has written several plays and pieces of industrial theatre. In 2009 was awarded an Afrikoon award by the ATKV for his work. This is his first novel.