Fruit of the heart leads to debut novel
2007-07-26
Malané Bosman
LIKE a plum sweetening in the Boland sun, Paarlite Ingrid Wolfaardt has turned her hand to writing and has just heard that her debut novel has been accepted for publication.
The news was greeted with jubilation by husband John and the couple’s four equally creative and radiant daughters.
The working title of the book was Onion Heart, until Ingrid read a book on trees and recognized the symbolism in a tree named Heartfruit.
“Heartfruit” is a farm novel, its name derived from the central African thorntree by that name. It bears heart-shaped fruit and the leaves are hung from roofs to deter thunder storms.
The book is about the journey of a young man and a boy living on a farm in the early 1970’s to 2000. The central theme is about loss and guilt in terms of land, politics and personal relationships.
“It is certainly not a Mills & Boon or a Barbara Cartland,” Ingrid laughs.
“My children said it was heavy going - that was at the beginning of my writing.
After that I never showed the copy to anyone in the family.”
Just before Ingrid submitted the novel for graduation, Sophy (22) read the first pages on her desk and with surprise commented “Mama, you’ve improved so much - you can actually write”.
The opinion was echoed by her La Rochelle High sisters, aged 15, 19 and 24.
The Wolfaardts farmed in the Ceres district before moving to Paarl in 2000 and establishing a decidious fruit marketing enterprise.
In January this year the couple started a BEE venture in Paarl called Rainbow Fruit, which packs dried fruit for the UK market.
Although extremely busy as director of the firm Fruitworks, and with a finger in many other pies, Ingrid still had an itch. She wanted to write.
With a Stellenbosch University degree in Fine Art, she maintains that writing is “totally intellectually consuming. Although trained as a painter, I love writing.
“I remembered one of my lecturers, Victor Honey, saying 25 years ago that my writing was better than my art.”
Ingrid dabbled in writing short stories and when she had a handful of copy some seven months later, she submitted those for acceptance into a writing course presented by Breyten Breytenbach at the University of Cape Town.
“Writing in isolation was not really satisfying. So when I heard about the course, I thought it would be an amazing experience.”
Because most of her works were in Afrikaans, she received notice that Breytenbach’s tuition was not to be.
“However, Etienne van Heerden accepted me into his class - if I initially attempted a book of short stories.”
Now, six years later, that book has grown to 520 pages.
The novel, with prose in English and 80 percent of the dialogue in Afrikaans, is being made ready for the printers after the adjudicators gave it the thumbs up, with distinction.
“It came as a real surprise for me - and possibly for the department as well. And then Etienne Bloemhof accepted Heartfruit for publication by Tafelberg,” Ingrid says.
She may have to rewrite some of the unique Boland-Afrikaans vernacular to make it accessible to a wider audience.
To be able to concentrate solely on her writing, Ingrid moves to the couple’s home in Prince Albert for a fortnight at a time, and then spends ten hours a day behind her laptop.
She has already started on a second novel - shorter, simpler and with fewer characters.
Recently Paarl artist Cornelia Smook approached Ingrid to write the critique for her first major solo exhibition to be on view during Cultivaria in September.
Paarlites will, however, not be able to savour the fruits of Ingrid’s heart just yet.
The publishers have decided to bring the hefty read to the shelves only next year, ready for the winter market in front of the fireplace or tucked up in bed.
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