R240.00
In Root Bound, Manthipe Moila’s evocative debut, a young woman navigates grief, memory, and identity between South Africa and South Korea. Through a lush botanical lens, she explores what it means to grow roots in a foreign place while reckoning with the past.
Description
An absent father dies. Home is no longer so homely. And yet, wherever you go, you cannot escape yourself. Manthipe Moila’s captivating debut follows a young woman as she finds her place between the blossoming South Africa of her past and the blustery South Korea of her present. How does one grow in a new place, in a new language? Is it possible to grow new roots, or does pain forever bind us to the past?
Drawing on the botanical environment – as well as a self-made jungle of houseplants – Moila meditates on memory and loss, the thrills of exploration, and the journey of becoming. A fresh, inventive and essential new voice in South African literature.