Citizen Book Prize Shortlist: Babette’s African Feast by Christy Mulco
THIS is the eighth of nine synopses of books eligible for the Citizen Book Prize.
The winner will be determined by readers’ votes. To help get your favourite manuscript published, vote and make your mark (see the voting box below the synopsis).
Voting for each synopsis will be open for the week following its publication in CitiVibe. If you miss that, you will be able to reread and vote for all nine synopses online from November 5 – 11.
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This is the only book prize for unpublished authors chosen by the reading public.
The Citizen Book Prize synopsis eight
Babette’s African Feast
by Christy Mulco
BABETTE is everywoman. One day she inexplicably comes to at the train station in Overberg, not knowing a soul, thrown upon the mercy of the station master Mr Wessels, and Steph Stephens, who works for him.
At first Babette helps Steph with housework but she soon finds a job with Dominee and Mev. Stander.
The community to which the Standers belong is a conservative group of country people who are trying to come to terms with the new South Africa. They are as drab as the gray and brown colours they wear.
Babette quietly works in and around the Standers’ lives. She loves cooking and experimenting with new ingredients.
Soon the Standers’ lives begin to “pinken up” as Babette adds spice to their lives.
Contrasted with this conservative group are the township people. Colourful, juicy, loud; they are somewhat unwieldy and are best described in technicolour, accompanied by loud music and vigorous dance. Babette impacts dynamically on both communities.
The story moves between Botriver, Hermanus and the township Zwelitshe.
In rural South Africa, as much as things change, they stay the same. Eventually Babette is able to bring the two groups together – a challenging and difficult thing to do.
The Standers and their friends come to enjoy more colourful lives and are amenable when Babette proposes a feast that will bring the two groups together in a collision of cultures that will change both groups forever.
But life has a surprise in store for Babette, who learns that she is HIV positive. Faced with adversity, she turns her fortunes around, using the news to effect joy in places of little hope.
She is confronted by the challenge of the potential devastation that Aids presents to her life and in the lives in the township; but she realises that one woman can make a difference.
This is a story about love, about the difference and sameness in people. It is a story of good luck and how someone, who is not willing to pursue materialistic ends and lose her soul in the process, can effect change in her very community.
Much of the story is told through the device of food. Babette works her magic through the palates and stomachs of her willing guinea pigs, using recipes from her childhood and culture.
She borrows from Western and northern Africa; she steals recipes from her friend Goya from Ghana. She invents delicious meals by using ingredients grown right outside her kitchen door. As the people open themselves to new foods, tastes and music, so too do they open up to Babette and the other cultures around them.
The conservative group warm up to their new lives. When Babette wins millions in the Lotto, the people of the township pull together to help her achieve her dream of using her good fortune to effect dramatic change in all of their lives.
This is a humorous story that gives some hope in a country overwhelmed by poverty and Aids. It is a story that builds on the tradition of Ubuntu and the love of communities.
Vote for Babette’s African Feast by Christy Mulco
Citizen Book Prize Shortlist: Babette’s African Christmas Feast by Christy Mulco(poll)
