Synopsis "Diamonds on a River of Tears (in English)"
Two thousand feet beneath the earth's crust in one of the world's biggest diamond mines; inside the secret hideouts of the underground organizations that courageously fought to free South Africa from the racism and oppression of apartheid; out on the riot torn streets of the black townships of Soweto. This is where the action takes place in LR Penn's gripping epic adventure as it careens across the continents of Africa and Europe to tell the riveting story of three generations of a Zulu family in South Africa. It is an intensely dramatic story, filled with humor and suspense. This stunning work of historical fiction begins in 1890 in a rural village in South Africa. Jabulani Khanyile is born into a traditional Zulu society that is defined by customs, rituals, and beliefs that have been handed down by countless generations. Jabulani rejects his cultural heritage and leaves behind his traditional lifestyle in order to seek his fortune in the boom towns that are being built out of South Africa's diamonds and gold. His son Lindani comes of age in the heyday of apartheid. Unable to accept the exploitation, suffering, and degradation to which his people are being subjected, he dedicates his life to the struggle to overthrow South Africa's white supremacist regime. Lindani's son Vusumuzi bears witness to the triumph of justice over racism and hatred. But will he be able to reunite his family, which has been torn apart in the course of the struggle for freedom? Diamonds on a River of Tears allows the reader to experience, as if at first hand, a truly bizarre epoch of cataclysmic historical and cultural transformation in a country teetering on the brink of self-destruction. Keywords: South Africa, Zulu culture, apartheid, Soweto, African National Congress, Pan Africanist Congress, mining, Xhosa, tsotsi, Bophuthatswana, Poqo
