Under Glass

In 1857 a young Englishwoman arrives in Port Natal from India to make a new life for her family among settlers, homesteaders, and sugar-cane farmers. She is with her daughter and the child’s ayah, and has been travelling for eleven months to join her husband, already deep in the hinterland. Her father-in-law has staked them their passage, a sum for settlement and an arrangement for the purchase of land, but there are conditions to his generosity that will have a lasting effect on the pair, and particularly on their fifth child, Cosmo, born years later. It is on the family’s sugar-cane farm that the reader begins to understand that there is something peculiar about young Cosmo, something that must be kept secret. At once an intriguing mystery and a meditation on the region’s colonial history, Under Glass is a high-stakes narrative of deception and disguise by one of South Africa’s finest novelists. "Set in Natal in the nineteenth century among the settlers and the homesteaders and the sugar-cane farmers, Claire Robertson0́9s masterful new novel Under Glass tells the story of Mrs Chetwyn, who arrives in Port Natal from India in 1856. She is with her eldest daughter and her ayah, and has been travelling for eleven months to join her husband, already deep in the hinterland.Her father-in-law has staked them their passage, a sum for settlement and an arrangement for the purchase of land, but there are conditions to his generosity that will have a lasting effect on the Chetwyns, specially on their fifth child, Cosmo, born years later. It is on the Chetwyns0́9 sugar-cane farm that the reader begins to understand that there is something strange about Cosmo, something that must be kept secret or hidden. At once a deeply researched historical novel and an intriguing mystery, Under Glass is a high-stakes narrative of deception and disguise that will appeal to a range of readers of literary fiction by one of the country0́9s finest novelists"--provided by publisher. "Set in Natal in the nineteenth century among the settlers and the homesteaders and the sugar-cane farmers, Claire Robertson0́'s masterful new novel Under Glass tells the story of Mrs Chetwyn, who arrives in Port Natal from India in 1856. She is with her eldest daughter and her ayah, and has been travelling for eleven months to join her husband, already deep in the hinterland. Her father-in-law has staked them their passage, a sum for settlement and an arrangement for the purchase of land, but there are conditions to his generosity that will have a lasting effect on the Chetwyns, specially on their fifth child, Cosmo, born years later. It is on the Chetwyns0' sugar-cane farm that the reader begins to understand that there is something strange about Cosmo, something that must be kept secret or hidden. At once a deeply researched historical novel and an intriguing mystery, Under Glass is a high-stakes narrative of deception and disguise that will appeal to a range of readers of literary fiction by one of the country0's finest novelists."-- Provided by publisher Set in Natal in the nineteenth century among the settlers and the homesteaders and the sugar-cane farmers, Claire Robertsons masterful new novel Under glass tells the story of Mrs Chetwyn, who arrives in Port Natal from India on 22 March 1857. She is with her eldest daughter and her ayah, and has been travelling for eleven months to join her husband, already deep in the hinterland. Her father-in-law has staked them their passage, a sum for settlement and an arrangement for the purchase of land, but there are conditions to his generosity that will have a lasting effect on the Chetwyns, specially on their fifth child, Cosmo, born years later. It is on the Chetwyns sugar-cane farm that the reader begins to understand that there is something strange about Cosmo, something that must be kept secret or hidden. At once a deeply researched historical novel and an intriguing mystery, Under glass is a high-stakes narrative of deception and disguise that will appeal to a range of readers of literary fiction by one of the countrys finest novelists.