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eBook Edition
- 978-1-4602-8343-1
- epub, mobi, pdf files
- Keywords
- Indigenous identity,
- compassion,
- prejudice & racism,
- South Africa,
- south america,
- Canada
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Mother Tongue
by
Helen May
In Mother Tongue, Helen May brings us the courageous and compelling story of Madelaine, a Scottish girl born in South Africa on the brink of World War II and the apartheid era. Raised by the Zulu people who work in her family’s household and on the farm, Madelaine speaks Zulu and learns from them valuable messages about kindness and survival. When she attends the village school, she is punished for her friendship with the Zulu, thus beginning a lifelong, soul-searching journey towards practicing kindness and forgiveness in a world torn by prejudice. Her travels take her across the world, to Rio de Janeiro, to a long and adventurous drive north to Vancouver and the eventual disillusion of an ill-fated marriage. Even in Canada, she witnesses the deep scars of racism and colonization, and eventually turns her gaze back to her homeland, where she must answer a spiritual debt for those who taught her her mother tongue. In a novel about the hardships of identity and one’s duty to humanity, Mother Tongue is an emotional tour de force. Using her astounding ability to tell stories embedded with both personal and globe-spanning insights, Helen May guides the reader through a series of soul-searching epiphanies. The result is an image of a world healed, piece-by-piece, by the transformative power of compassion.
Helen May was born in South Africa and currently lives in Vancouver, BC, close to her grandchildren and friends. As an avid storyteller, she believes in the power of language to convey life lessons, personal transformation, inspiration, and compassion. She has shared her love for stories extensively throughout her professional life, working as a life story coach, an oral storyteller, and Early Childhood Educator. She continues to facilitate work- shops on attaining personal growth through writing and storytell-ing. Helen is the author of two previously published educational works: The Possibilities of Music and Stories (1975) and It Works (1987). In Mother Tongue, she brings to the page stories she has shared on stages across three continents, offering us a body of emotional and invaluable wisdom about life.
Contributors
- Author
- Helen May
- Illustrator
- Marc Luc Poelvoorde
What People are Saying
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