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![]() | Before the Knife (2002) Memories of an African Childhood A non fiction book by Carolyn Slaughter |
| "Written with such beauty, courage and truthfulness that it will rank with other masterpieces about life in Africa." Amanda Craig |
Carolyn Slaughter is the author of ten novels, but for the last 12 years she has been completely silent. She had become conscious that there was something hidden in her past that had always haunted her fiction but which she had never fully faced. This memoir is the result of confronting the truth about her traumatic childhood. Carolyn's father was in the colonial service, but he lacked power and was ashamed of his Irish origins. In private, he was capable of acts of absolute sadism. When Carolyn was small, they lived comfortably in Swaziland having left India during the Partition. But when she turned six, things changed. Her mother gave birth to another daughter and they were posted to a remote area in the Kalahari desert. Bereft of a civilized social life, her mother plunged into a deep depression and turned completely away from Carolyn. While her older sister found friends and left for boarding school, Carolyn suffered a desperate sense of abandonment and loss and turned to the landscape of the Kalahari itself for solace. The stark fact that Carolyn was first raped by her father at the age of six is contained within the prologue and epilogue of this book. What lies in between is the story of an extraordinary childhood in Africa and a moving depiction of the complexities at the root of our relationships with mother, father, siblings
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Used availability for Carolyn Slaughter's Before the Knife
See all available used copies of this book at: Abebooks UK or Abebooks US
Hardback Editions
May 2003 : Library Binding
| Title: Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter ISBN: 0-613-70741-9 / 978-0-613-70741-1 (USA edition) Publisher: San Val Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
May 2002 : Hardback
| Title: Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter ISBN: 0-375-41397-9 / 978-0-375-41397-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Knopf Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
March 2002 : Hardback
| Title: Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter ISBN: 0-385-60344-4 / 978-0-385-60344-7 (USA edition) Publisher: Doubleday Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
Paperback Editions
April 2010 : Paperback
| Title: Before The Knife: Memories Of An African Childhood Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter ISBN: 0-552-77686-6 / 978-0-552-77686-8 (UK edition) Publisher: Black Swan Availability: Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
May 2003 : Paperback
| Title: Before the Knife Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter ISBN: 0-375-71346-8 / 978-0-375-71346-0 (USA edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
January 2003 : Paperback
| Title: Before The Knife: Memories Of An African Childhood Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter ISBN: 0-552-99988-1 / 978-0-552-99988-5 (UK edition) Publisher: Black Swan Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
March 2002 : Paperback
| Title: Before the Knife: Memories of an African Childhood Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter ISBN: 0-385-60346-0 / 978-0-385-60346-1 (USA edition) Publisher: Doubleday Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Other Editions
September 2010 : Kindle edition
| Title: Before The Knife: Memories of an African Childhood Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter Publisher: Transworld Digital Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
December 2007 : Kindle edition
| Title: Before the Knife Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 2002 : Unknown
| Title: Before the Knife Author(s): Carolyn Slaughter Publisher: Alfred Knopf Availability: Amazon More details... |
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