'n Oomblik in die wind by André P. Brink

'n Oomblik in die wind (Sixth Afrikaans Edition, Brink's Booker-Shortlisted Novel)

Brink's Landmark Novel of Love Across the Colour Line in the Eighteenth-Century Cape Interior

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: 'n Oomblik in die wind
• Author: André P. Brink
• Publisher: Human & Rousseau, Kaapstad Pretoria
• Publication Date: 2005
• ISBN-13: 9780798145190
• ISBN-10: 0798145196
• Edition Details: Sesde uitgawe (Sixth Edition), 2005. The printing statement records earlier editions of 1975 (Taurus), 1994 (fifth) and 2005 (sixth).
• Binding: Publisher's illustrated card wrappers, perfect bound, large softcover (trade paperback) format. The cover shows a bare tree in a field.
• Physical Format: Large softcover (trade paperback) format, 192 pages.
• Language: Afrikaans

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
• Exterior / Wraps: The illustrated wrappers are clean and bright, with no obvious tears. The spine is straight with no obvious creasing, and the corners are fairly sharp. A slight rub or light mark may be present on the lower left of the back cover, near the publisher's logo.
• Interior: The page block edges are clean and white, with light handling marks to the top edge. The binding is tight.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

'n Oomblik in die wind is a historical novel set in the Cape colony in the middle of the eighteenth century. Elisabeth Larsson accompanies her Swedish husband on an expedition into the harsh interior. When he disappears into the wilderness, she is left in an unforgiving landscape, where she forms a passionate bond with Adam Mantoor, an escaped slave, and promises to help him gain his freedom.

The novel is a love story across the colour line, shadowed by betrayal. It uses the relationship between a white woman and a black man to expose the destructiveness of racial hatred, a theme Brink pursued in the same period in Gerugte van reën.

First published in 1975 by Taurus, the book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in its English translation and remains one of the best-known works of Afrikaans literature. This 2005 Human & Rousseau sixth edition is a reading and collecting copy of a landmark Sestiger novel.

Author Profile: André P. Brink

André P. Brink (1935–2015) was a South African novelist, born in Vrede. He taught in the Afrikaans and Dutch department at Rhodes University from 1961 until 1990, and became a professor of English at the University of Cape Town in 1991. He was a leading member of the Sestigers, the movement that reshaped Afrikaans writing in the 1960s.

His novels A Dry White Season (1979) and Gerugte van reën (1978) were both banned in South Africa. Later works include Donkermaan (2000) and Anderkant die stilte (2002). He also produced many translations, mainly from French and English. He died in Amsterdam in 2015.

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