'I am Krotoa,' she told him. 'I am the daughter of the eldest brother of Autshumao.’
Krotoa is a member of the Goringhaikona, a tribe who live by the shore and spend their days beachcombing and gathering mussels. As a young girl, she longs to live with a wealthier tribe and to be the wife of a man who owns a herd of cattle.
Then the unimaginable happens: from the sea arrives a group of pale strangers; and they do not depart again as earlier wayfarers had. Not suspecting that her life, her very dreams, will forever be affected, Krotoa is on the beach when the governor's wife - Maria van Riebeeck - comes ashore at the Cape in April 1652.
Employed by the Van Riebeecks and given the name Eva, she soon learns the ways and language of the Dutch. She finds herself mediating between the unfathomable European settlers and the familiar indigenous peoples, as they engage in trade and in trickery with each other. It is an uneven exchange, and Eva, like the culture which nurtured her, is caught ever more violently in the cross-currents that sweep across a society undergoing early yet profound change.
Set in the politically charged atmosphere of the Cape in the mid-seventeenth century, Krotoa-Eva: The Woman from Robben Island is an exploration of identity, power and how individuals react to the clash of cultures. This biographical novel focuses on the vivid and memorable character of Krotoa-Eva; it also takes us into the hearts and minds of the women and men at the Cape at the time of the Dutch East India Company: the politicians and farmers, the military men and adventurers, and the chiefs, healers and cattle-traders.
A deeply moving and yet highly informative book. Also timely, touching as it does on the search for a truly South African identity.
Trudie Bloem worked as librarian at the Johannesburg Library, the SA Library and the Cape Provincial Educational Library, and as an editor, translator and indexer. In the late 1950s, while working on the Index to SA Periodicals, she stumbled upon the name Krotoa, in an article 'Uit die Biografie van 'n Hottentottin'. Incredulous that such a pivotal figure had remained relatively unknown, she researched Krotoa's life over many years, making copious notes, and finally writing this book. Trudie Bloem lives in Tokai, Cape Town.