I received a free e-galley of this novel from the publisher. That did not influence this review.
For me, one of the best ways to learn something about a historical time period, place, or event that I know little to nothing about, is to read a biography, or even better, a well-researched biographical novel, about a person living through it.
I’ve mentioned before my love for biographical novels, so when offered the chance to read The Farther Shore by Seth Fleisher, I jumped at it, despite my promise to myself that I wouldn’t add more books to my TBR pile until I had read a bunch that are already on it.
The Farther Shore is a dual biographical novel, primarily exploring the life of Eugène Marais (1871-1936), who was one of southern Africa’s leading academic lights. As a devoted Afrikaner, he was involved with the politics of his day. He was a journalist and poet. He was a determined preservationist of the Afrikaans language. He also studied law, medicine, and science (naturalism with its implications for anthropology). This was at the time of the Boer War (about which I’d known nothing except that it happened) and rampant British colonialism. Nowadays, in the post-apartheid era, it is difficult to read about the difficult life of a privileged, white man in this geographical setting without getting a bit of an icky, “yes, but…” feeling; and yet, this is one of the reasons I found the book powerful. It took me back in time to prewar southern Africa, before the development of apartheid as an all-encompassing legal/political system of oppression (which came about only after WWII.) That is not to say there was no racial discrimination before that. There most certainly was, and Marais was guilty of racism, classism, and some horrifying acts of dehumanization of aboriginals. The man himself was a morally gray character, but the novel shows his multiple facets, and makes him fascinating. (He was also a morphine addict, so there is that to grapple with.)
I said it was a dual biographical novel. The other protagonist is his son, Charles Marais. Charles definitely existed. And he was abandoned by his father after the death of his mother from puerperal sepsis. But that is the extent of the factual information underlying the fictional creation of this man. In the novel, Charles does counterbalance some of the moral grayness of his father, by being (at least becoming) staunchly anti-Nazi and anti-racist in the years leading up to WWII. And there is a love story woven into this part of the narrative.
The Farther Shore is beautifully written and emotionally complex. Highly recommended for readers of historical fiction and biographical fiction.
