Beyond the Book: Background information when reading Skinner's Drift

Beyond the Book

This article relates to Skinner's Drift

About the author: Lisa Fugard was born in South Africa, the daughter of acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard. She came to the United States in 1980 to pursue her acting career. She has written many articles for The New York Times travel section and this is her first novel. She lives in the desert of Southern California.

About the excerpt: There are a number of words in the excerpt which can be understood in the context of the book, but still my interest was piqued to find out exactly what they meant. Here are the results of my research!

Alldays: The town where Lisa last saw her father is a small town in the Limpopo province, the northernmost province in South Africa.
Dominee: pastor.
Rinkhal: a cobra indigenous to South Africa
Kente cloth: Originally worn by the Ghanese royal family and important figures of state during ceremonial events and special occasions.
Boer: A white native of South Africa who speaks Afrikaans, and is descended from Dutch settlers.
Marula tree: A spreading tree belonging to the mango family, that produces abundant fruit high in Vitamin C that can be used to make jam, jelly, wine and beer - it is also the key ingredient in the liquor, Amarula Cream.
Prawns Peri-Peri: prawns cooked in a sauce of red peppers, olive oil, onions and garlic (sounds good!)
Pinotage: A grape resulting from crossing Pinot Noir and Cinsault, created in South Africa in 1925.

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This article relates to Skinner's Drift. It first ran in the January 18, 2006 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.