ISBN: 9780620278164
Stormberg Publishers, 1 January 2001
Paperback, 678 pages
Second hand, Good condition
These three are separate and independent but closely related books that are designed to describe the history of a small semi-rural community in the Cape Colony. Each book is complete in itself, but the three together are necessary to outline the environment and to explain the changes that have taken place in the course of a century in the relations between the English and Dutch speaking elements in the community. In 1994, Stormwrack was voted one of South Africa's top 20 books. The publication now of all three novels as Leipoldt intended, in their entirety and as a trilogy, is a fitting tribute to a remarkably gifted and versatile South African. These historical novels, set in the beloved countryside of Leipoldt's youth, heighten the experience of visitors to the Cedarberg, and recall the history of the Clanwilliam district with an immediacy that renders the past clearly and endearingly recognisable in the present. It was C Louis Leipoldt's vision that his trilogy of novels, Gallows Gecko, Stormwrack and The Mask, should be published under the title The Valley. This vision will be realised for the first time in 2001 with the publication by Stormberg Publishers of The Valley as a trilogy in a single volume. Stormwrack and Gallows Gecko have been published before (in 1980 and 2000), the latter under the name Chameleon of the Gallows. These existing publications embody substantial cuts from Leipoldt's original text.
