The Long Silence of Mario Salviati

The Long Silence of Mario Salviati

by EtiennevanHeerden (Author)

Synopsis

When Ingi Friedlander travels to Tallejare in the dry interior of South Africa to purchase a statue, its eccentric sculptor, Jonty Jack, does not want to sell - he says it was not his creation, but appeared one morning as though it had miraculously risen from the ground. As Ingi decides to stay and try to win Jonty's trust, she becomes involved in other quests, as she soon realises that Tallejare is not just a hot, sleepy town, but a world in which stories of love, revenge and greed whirl like dust devils and the past is ever-present. Gradually she realises that the townspeople suspect she has come to seek a different treasure - the legendary wagon of gold brought in by defeated Boer soldiers. But where is it buried? What of the other more macabre cargo that the wagon carried? And what dark secret of the past does deaf and dumb Italian POW, Mario Salviati, have to hide?

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 350
Publisher: Sceptre
Published: 20 Jun 2002

ISBN 10: 0340819987
ISBN 13: 9780340819982
Book Overview: Etienne Van Heerden is a winner of the WA Hofmeyer Prize for best Afrikaans literature. His debut novel, Ancestral Voices , won both the CNA Literary Award and the Hertzog Price in South Africa.

Media Reviews
1 'A compelling story. The sort of book a reader can get lost in... It is a novel washed in history and lingers afterwards like a memory of a place one might have visited' - Mike Nichol 2 'Van Heerden manages his cast of characters with exemplary skill... Reminiscent of ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE, it is variously sardonic, amusing and poignant. [A] wonderful novel' - Daily Mail and Guardian 3 'A delicious read... Intriguing' - Cape Argus 4 On ANCESTRAL VOICES: '[He] combines popular readability with literary excellence and profound issues in a manner accomplished by few writers of any nationality' Mail and Guardian 5 'As one cannot talk about Israel without having read Amos Oz, or India without Salman Rushdie, or South America without Marquez or Llosa, so you'll have to read Van Heerden if you wish to understand South Africa.' - Herman de Coninck
Author Bio
After a career as an advocate and then in advertising, Etienne Van Heerden taught at Rhodes University, South Africa, the University of Amsterdam and was Writer in Residence at Utrecht University. He is currently Professor of Literature at the University of Cape Town, and is the author of a collection of short stories and four previous novels, including the multi-prize-winning Ancestral Voices.