Bluff author publishes third novel
Elwyn Bonhomme's latest offering sets against the backdrop of the Group Areas Act of the 1960s with an Overport family.
ALMOST 28 years into the democracy, there are still many more untold stories of the Apartheid era.
Author Elwyn Bonhomme is unearthing many of these stories, one novel at a time. In his third offering titled, People of the Shadows, the Bluff resident relates the Group Areas Act to an Overport family.
“Having lived through the whole period of Apartheid, I have realised that there are many untold stories about this time that need to be told – the human stories. The book centres around the harm done to a middle-class family. They were forced out of their home in the 1960s by the Group Areas Act and moved to a sub-economic block of flats,” he said.
The retired principal of Mayville-based Charles Hugo Primary School started drafting and writing People of the Shadows in June 2019. However, as with many other things, the pandemic delayed the book’s publication to last year December.
In the book, the protagonist, Nat Jacobs, after being compelled to move into another area is almost stripped of his own identity. The government of the day scatters his community, robs him of his friends, forces him out of his home and thrusts him into a world of alcoholism, drug addiction and gangsters.
Determined to fight the system, he does not allow it to destroy his family. Another theme the novel covers is evil and opens with a quotation from Albert Einstein, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.“
“A very small percentage of the country’s population is evil but evil thrives because the large percentage of good people look on and do nothing. If only they realised their power in unity, evil would greatly be reduced, if not eradicated,” said the father of three and grandfather of six.
Elwyn has previously published two historical fiction novels Chasing of the Wind and Did You Tell Them? He is currently doing research and writing his next novel entitled While the Land Burns. People of the Shadows retails at R250 a copy.
To get the novel, call Elwyn Bonhomme on 082 464 0132 or visit www.madeindurban.co.za.
