Upturned Earth

An interesting, meandering almost plotless tale, but one told with great style and colour.

Set in the late nineteenth century in Namaqualand, it what was then the Cape colony, and is now South Africa, it follows the life of a newly appointed resident magistrate, settling into life in the dry badlands of the Cape.

For the first half of the story, you expect it to be a gentle story of a forbidden between Hull, the magistrate, and Mrs McBride, a widow he meets on the coastal steamer from Cape Town.

But it’s more than that. A mine disaster and the discovery of quite ghastly mistreatment of indigenous workers in the mine jerks Hull out of his complacent study of entomology and strains his developing relationship with Mrs McBride.

The story is show more South African, but in truth it could be anywhere, it could equally be set in the desert mining towns of Australia or against the story of the Lena river gold miners in Tsarist Russia.

Hull’s awakening turns what at first seems a gentle story into something quite powerful.. show less

The content of the story was interesting and told in an easy style. It allows the reader an understanding of the injustices forced upon the native inhabitants of the land by European colonists and the companies that usurped these lands from the natives and essentially enslaved them as laborers without much choice. It is infuriating how discrimination was introduced and thrust upon these people simply because their cultures, customs, lifestyles were different than the conquering Europeans. I found some of the characters relationships peculiar and dialogue a bit odd, but I think that is because it is written in a style that is depicting the character of the town during this time period. I would recommend to gain insight into the hardships show more forced upon natives and also to get some perspective into the opinions of the settlers. show less

This novel reflects the brutality and corruption of South African mining companies starting in the 1850s lasting till today.

The fictional story is based around a copper mine in Namaqualand where a new magistrate is trying to uphold the law against the rules of the Company doing all the business there.

While the almost starving copper miners are digging the tunnels of the mine abominable atrocities are come to surface.

Easy read echoing long gone labour exploitation to our days.

I thought it was a very good book. It makes me sad when I read about people being mistreated. I enjoyed the story very much.