The Afrikaner. A Novel

Hate, Love, Guilt and Redemption under African Skies

Zoe du Plessis (33), a paleontologist of Afrikaner descent in newly post-apartheid South Africa (1996), is a conflicted woman struggling with white group guilt and a dark family secret. After losing her lover and colleague to a foretold accident, Zoe embarks on a field expedition into the hot plains of the Kalahari Desert, Namibia in search of early human fossils. Her journey of atonement and self-discovery will lead her to memorable encounters with a troubled writer (freely inspired by the life of South African writers Breyten Breytenbach and JM Coetzee), a Bushman shaman, and a Zulu Border War veteran.

The book is inspired by the five years spent by the author in South Africa as an international reporter for the Italian press and is currently being adapted to film.

“An entrancing novel… Dagnino's writing demonstrates the value of restoring to the storyteller a fundamental mandate, i.e. to chronicle the Spirit of the Times wherever it may be, and especially in a country whose history has touched all of us. In this, The Afrikaner is an exceptional novel by an exceptional writer.” (Ian Thomas Shaw, Ottawa Review of Books)

“Arianna Dagnino is to be complimented on her storytelling ability. She describes the beauty of South Africa through the careful choice of words, providing a cultural education for her readers.” (Judith Reveal, New York Journal of Books)

“Arianna Dagnino has written an engaging story about one woman’s search for answers in her own life, both personal and professional. The author uses a realistic style and creates very believable characters whom we enjoy meeting. She finds poetry in the arid beauty of the Kalahari Desert and helps us to get to know remote landscapes” – Joseph Pivato, Athabasca University, Canada)

“This book was truly beautiful, lyrical, and compelling, and this is a story brimming with character and place. Arianna Dagnino writes in a way that is attractive and hard to dismiss. The Afrikaner is quite a reading experience, and one I would gladly recommend to others.” (Reviewer 512434 at NetGalley)