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Mara and Dann Doris Lessing publisher: Querido, Amsterdam, 1999
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At the southern end of all large land mass called Ifrik, two children, Mara and Dann, are victims of a palace coup and forced to flee from their home and family in the middle of the night. They are brought up in a poor rural village, surviving the hardships of a life threatened as much by drought and wild animals as by the hostile Rock People, who hate them. They join the great human migration northward, away from the southern lands that are turning to dust. Mara and Dann encounter all kinds of people, survive many dangers. They are captured and enslaved, but escape, to be captured again in a country permanently at war. Dann becomes a general, while Mara finds herself a soldier in the opposing army. Again they |
escape, always traveling north - she finds herself in a brothel only to run away; he nurses her through the terrible water sickness. This brother and sister love each other, save each other's lives a hundred times, traveling north - but what is North; what will they find there? Mara hungers for answers to questions, Who are our parents, and why do so many people risk their lives to save us, as if we were precious? Who lived long ago in the ruins we see everywhere? Why do cities and peoples disappear? Mara, who sustains a compassionate loving nature despite the cruelty all around her, is one of Doris Lessing's most appealing heroines. And Dann and is as brave a hero as you'll find in any old tale. |
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| BOOKS BY DORIS LESSING: Mara and Dann 1999 Adventure story set in the future, after the next Ice Age. A brother and sister in the continent of Ifrik are heading North, trying to escape from drought and war. | ||
| Story of Dann and Mara's daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog 2005 Sequel to Mara and Dann (1999). The earth's climate has changed – it is colder than ever before – and Dann, four in the first book, is now grown up and a general, and the man to whom everyone looks for guidance and leadership. The novel charts his adventures across the frozen wastes of the north, a journey that will eventually lead to the discovery of a secret library. | ||
| ON DORIS LESSING'S BOOKSHELF The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky, 1880 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov, 1904 | The Grass is Singing 1950 Set in Rhodesia, this is the story of Dick, a failed white farmer and his wife, Mary, dependent and disappointed. Both are trapped by poverty, and in the heat of the brick and tin house, hemmed in by the bush, Mary finds herself seeking solace in the arms of the houseboy. | WHAT TO READ AFTER THE GRASS IS SINGING? ACROSS THE COLOR BAR Occasion for Loving Nadine Gordimer, 1963 Age of Iron J.M. Coetzee, 1990 The Way of the Women Marlene van Niekerk, 2004 The Human Stain Philip Roth, 2000 BOOKS THAT CAUSED A COMMOTION To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee, 1960 Empire of the Sun J.G. Ballard, 1984 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston, 1937 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles, 1949 DESCENT INTO MADNESS The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath, 1963 Atmospheric Disturbances Rivka Galchen, 2008 The Mandarins Simone de Beauvoir, 1954 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey, 1962 PIONEERS IN THE COLONIES [De stille plantage] Albert Helman, 1931 Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys, 1966 World's End T.C. Boyle, 1987 Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe, 1958 |
| The Golden Notebook 1962 Anna Wulf is a young novelist with writer's block. Divorced, with a young child, and disillusioned by unsatisfactory relationships, she feels her life is falling apart. In fear of madness, she records her experiences in four colored notebooks. | ||
| A Proper Marriage 1954 'Children of Violence', book 2 | ||
| Martha Quest 1952 'Children of Violence', book 1 | ||
| A Ripple from the Storm 1958 'Children of Violence', book 3 | ||
| Briefing for a Descent into Hell 1971 A man is found wandering the streets of London with no memory of a 'normal' life. | ||
| The Summer Before the Dark 1973 | ||
| Re: Colonised Planet 5, Shikasta 1979 'Canopus in Argos', book 1 | ||
| The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 1982 'Canopus in Argos': archives, book 4 | ||
| The Diary of a Good Neighbour 1983 (under pseudonym 'Jane Somers') | ||
| If the Old Could... 1984 (under pseudonym 'Jane Somers') | ||
| The Good Terrorist 1985 | ||
| The Fifth Child 1988 | ||
| Under My Skin 1994 First volume of her autobiograhy, to 1949. | ||
| Walking in the Shade 1997 Second volume of her autobiography, 1949-1962. | ||
| Ben, in the World 2000 Sequel to The Fifth Child | ||
| The Sweetest Dream 2001 | ||
| The Grandmothers 2003 4 short novels. | ||
| Time Bites: Views and Reviews 2004 Essays | ||
| Alfred and Emily 2008 | ||
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| The Ledge editor-in-chief: Stacey Knecht, info@the-ledge.com Thanks to: De digitale pioniers and Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Design: Maurits de Bruijn |
Copyright: Pieter Steinz, Stacey Knecht All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. |
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