Based on a true story ... (Teaser from the publisher) Disclaimer: This "teaser" was not written by the author or by (or with input from) Africa's Snow White. |
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These novels, are based (very closely) on a true story, which starts 4 decades ago in the South Africa of the 1970's. The novels are exactly that, written with a unique style quite different from this teaser. As background, what is important to understand, is that though South Africa was independent from the Britain by the 1970's, it clearly was still heavily influenced by the colonial era and many of its structures - but for the Africans of European descent, there really was little realization that they were sipping their sundowners during the sunset of the colonial era. That would later come as a huge shock to most of them, and that shockwave continues to ripple and crest to this day! However, back in 1971 when these books start telling their story, the "last of a handful of surviving African colonies" was still peaceful and did not yet have television, which further ensured its isolation from the outside world. Its many families of European descent enjoyed a lifestyle matched nowhere else on earth, while the more numerous indigenous (black African) peoples were tightly controlled to preserve that lopsided, super-privileged status-quo. This was the system known as "Apartheid", but what many people outside of South Africa do not realize, was that color was not the only divide. For decades, directly as a result of clashing European colonial interests during the 1800's, there was within the ruling peoples a very real cultural (language) divide as well - not too different from that between Quebec and English Canada. But every year, for 3 - 4 weeks, they all enjoyed Christmas (summer) vacation together, at the seaside, many of them in caravan parks. There, often their children met each other and fell in love, forcing these families to confront and come to terms with the issues of this particular cultural divide.
How did South Africa's leaders feel about Television? In the 1960's, Prime Minister Hendrick Verwoerd compared TV with atom bombs and poison gas, claiming that: "They are modern things, but that does not mean they are desirable - that government has to watch for any dangers to the people, both spiritual and physical." Dr. Albert Hertzog, Minister for Posts and Telegraphs said that TV would come to South Africa: "Over [his] dead body," denouncing it as "a miniature bioscope [cinema] over which parents would have no control." He also argued that "South Africa would have to import films showing race mixing; and advertising would make [non-white] Africans dissatisfied with their lot." The new medium was, back then, regarded as "The devil’s own box, for disseminating communism and immorality". Well, progress (good or bad) can be delayed but never stopped. On 5 January 1976 television broadcasts started. By the end of 1976 there was an explosion of "Black rage" over many legitimate issues (the Soweto riots were mainly about education) ... but soon it broadened in scope.
Many South African families (of European origins) decided that it was time to leave. They concluded that their once peaceful, prosperous life was doomed forever, and so it was that the many tragedies, of families and sweethearts splitting apart, began. To better comprehend the scale of all of this, in the 1980's a Dutch Reform Dominie (Pastor) asked his large, packed Sunday church audience to put up their hands if they had been impacted personally by their family and loved ones leaving South Africa - almost all of them raised their hands. In time politicians started the move towards a peaceful handover of political power to the African National Congress, but it was anything but peaceful at first - and even more families fled their beloved country. To put this in some perspective, imagine events that would unfold if a third of Americans felt compelled to leave their homes and families to resettle in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, as control of the USA was handed over to Mexico - then one can begin to understand the scale of the transformation in just part of South African society. This started in the mid 70's and continues even now, with millions of innocent lives impacted!
With all of this as backdrop, the author chose to base these novels on the lives of a few representative families. One was an English family living in a very Afrikaans Town, Wellington (hometown of Rev. Andrew Murray) forced to send their daughters to Hugenote Hoërskool, a very Afrikaans school. Another, an Afrikaner family living in a remote corner of the Transkei (Nelson Mandella's birth-place) - forced to send their children far away to a British-style (English) boarding school in Bloemfontein (J.R.R. Tolkien's birthplace). Yet another South African family, of Irish decent, were traders in the Transkei, and sent their 3 vivacious daughters to Aliwal-North's Holy Cross Convent. The other families and characters in these novels are drawn from a broad cross section of the society that existed back then, from every province and every major city, as well as the farms and favorite holiday spots. One of these characters, in particular, bears special mention - an older Xhosa gentleman from the Transkei, a chauffeur of the rich in Cape town, who intervened on the side of true love - a courageous act that turned the tide of the battle for Elizabeth's heart - at the most crucial point in young Snow White's life. Once again, we see how even the seemingly most powerless, often hold the key to the future. Much has changed in society since then, but that was a time when it was impossible (and illegal) to fall in love across color boundaries, impractical (and frequently discouraged) for youngsters from the two major European cultural (language) groups to fall in love - but it happened! Add to all of this the several regional wars that South Africa was part of in the 1970's (a result of the end of the colonial era in southern Africa with communism threatening to spread in that region) and the subsequent conscription of all of its male high-school graduating citizens to fight in those wars (think of Vietnam) as well as the internal push back against "Apartheid" and the mayhem that followed. The stage was set for truly dramatic (and traumatic) human dramas on all sides of the cultural and racial divides! The author accurately describes how all of these events influenced the lives of those families whose dreams and fears, loves and lives, ambitions and hopes were intimately intertwined, resulting in a real life fairy tale unfolding with all of the expected heartbreak, danger, death, despair and redemption that most such tales encompass and, for some, we even get to see the hard fought for (customary for fairy-tales) "happily ever after" materialize. But amongst all of that, there is humor, love and friendship.
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In a beautiful, blessed land, the land of "far, far away", deep within South America's jungles, surrounded by warm, brilliant blue oceans and soft, white sandy beaches, in a valley time seems to have overlooked, there is a place where hummingbirds never leave, flowers always bloom, spring never dies, bananas, papayas, pineapples and mangos abound, crystal clear waters cascade down mountains, over craggy cliffs into deep turquoise swimming pools surrounded by large, warm, smooth rocks, the effervescent cascading waters often hiding rocky caves ... There, where beautiful multi-colored birds sing sweetly from surrounding trees and large metallic-blue butterflies flutter all around, lives "Africa's Snow White", now well into her 50's and, as you can see, aging gracefully. For her, warmth and color has returned, and with each passing day comes this realization: She and her family are finally free to enjoy their God-given right to live, to love and to dream - finally safely far enough away from that relentless queen so unnaturally bent on her daughter's total destruction. |
But that's not how this story started - it's how it ends.
"Elizabeth" - Fortunate to be
born with a snow white complexion in the South Africa
As in the original fairy-tale, this ending may well not have happened at all if dark, malevolent forces had prevailed, as very nearly happens in both stories! Across hemispheres and continents, along with evil's tell-tale signature of gleeful satisfaction at every funeral, against incredible odds, this very African love story plays out in a way that cannot be imagined, proving again that "Truth is definitely stranger than fiction!" For now though, let's journey back to a distant land and time ... to the soft, warm sands of the Indian Ocean and the early 70's. 
And here is where this story begins to end ... South America - a gentle, gracious continent
... filled with warmth. In
these lands of "far, far away" we finally see the
"happily ever after" ending for ...
Tomorrow is where I will be
Mark Twain:“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!”
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Once
upon a time, in a land far, far away, a
beautiful young girl (Elizabeth, the daughter
of a company vice-president) fell in love with a
physician's son (Nicholas) whilst spending her summer
holiday by the sea. Her family was very English -
his family were Afrikaners. In South Africa back then,
this often was a problem! This was a time when phone
calls were so very expensive that hand-written letters
sent by mail were the only way to stay in touch. There
was no Internet, email, Facebook, cell phones (no
Blackberry messenger) or cheap long-distance calls. For
the 16 year-old sweethearts, it was a case of "Love at
first sight". Naturally (but rather naively) they
expected that everyone else would be happy for them too,
and would gladly support their love for each other.
Sadly, they were mistaken, for there were those that
were genuinely happy for them ... and then there
was the queen in this fairy-tale ...
War-time Buddies ...
Africa's
Snow White was forced to endure the agony of her
mother's unrelenting, vicious attacks and fought
valiantly for the freedom to live and love - many times
almost losing on both fronts. As in the original
fairy-tale, the queen was indeed jealous of the fairer
younger Snow White, but her obsession to totally control
or, failing that, to destroy her daughter, was because
Africa's Snow White was the only other living person who
carried with her the deepest, darkest secrets of the
queen. With the possibility of Snow White's marriage to
a man not of the queen's choosing (not under her
control) came the realization that her daughter's
loyalty was not assured, thus the real possibility
existed that the mystery surrounding the sad family
tragedy and the death of a leading Wellington
businessman of the early 1970's, in the wine lands of
South Africa, would finally be solved, and the queen's
sinister role in those events would emerge - and her
fears were well-founded. After years of being her
helpless victims, it occurred to Snow White that every
villain has an Achilles heel. Then the queen made a
fatal mistake. She tried to replay her once stunningly
successful plot, but this time aimed squarely at Snow
White and her family. It failed spectacularly! Suddenly
all the pieces of that plot's puzzle fell perfectly into
place in Snow White's mind. It took a journey back to
Africa, a visit to 2 graves and a year-long search for
the 2 little girls left behind, to fully grasp
the depths of the tragedy unleashed by the queen's
callous ambitions back in the early 70's, in faraway
Africa. In "Prince Charming" that mystery (first alluded
to in "Summer love, Jealous winter") is finally solved.
Realizing that her daughter had finally completed the
puzzle, and that her exposure now loomed large, she
dispatched her "huntsman" with deadly intent. Instead he
again took pity on Snow White, and warned her of the
dire consequences already flowing from the queen's
immense rage. It was time for them to disappear - but
where would the queen not think to look for Africa's
Snow White? 
But
why drive? Flying is much safer, quicker and
cheaper! Well, all of the airlines refused to
fly Snow White's 11yr old little dog, Happy, and
so her family, united in their determination to
have Happy remain as an integral part of their
family, did what people should do for loved
ones. After all, his loyalty and love through
the years were never in question. He would
require special permission from every country
they passed through along the way, but they all
did arrive safely ... in the end. Happy Eloff
had enjoyed yet another great adventure with his
loved ones, and then retired in style in South
America where he lived for another 3.5 years.
With all of those trees in the jungles, he sure
went on a lot of awesome walks and marked a lot
of new, exotic territory. 
and they all lived happily ever after ...
Click on above book covers to open the AMAZON link for ordering the Kindle editions ($2.99 each)
ADDENDUM ... so how did it all end?
Some Trivia: Not many people know this much, but in the original Brothers Grimm fairy-tale, the queen was not the wicked step-mother - she was the wicked real mother of Snow White! Decades later a publisher changed the villain to being the step-mother of Snow White, so as to be less scary for children, and no doubt also to increase sales.
For the Curious: Why did the author choose to name Africa's Snow White, "Elizabeth" in his series of novels? In Jennifer's favorite movie (Pride and Prejudice) there's a famous scene where Elizabeth's mother is insisting that her dad (Mr. Bennet) tell her she must marry the "soon to be rich Landlord - but boring" Mr. Collins. Here is that scene: "An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents.—Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do." Lizzie's dad, letting Lizzie know she does not have to marry her mother's choice of a husband, has always been a fantasy for Jennifer. Real names obviously needed changing, and Jennifer - Elizabeth, Jenny - Lizzie, Jen - Liz just somehow felt right. Sadly Lizzie's real-life dad never did summon up the courage to help his daughter. Why did the author choose the name "Nicholas" for Africa's Snow White's childhood sweetheart in his novels? In Jennifer's other favorite series of books, the classic Angélique series of romance novels, Angélique's childhood sweetheart, is Nicholas.
But
why choose the title:
"Africa's
Snow-white"?
Well, "Africa" is self explanatory, but in order to
fully understand the rest of the title,
we really do need to tie-up all the loose ends and put
the pieces of this puzzle together.
I have to be candid, this connection had not even occurred to any of us until a few years ago. Under constant attack, reflective thought is a luxury. Our family spent most of our time and energy combating this mother's aggressive attacks, all of them surprises, none of them pleasant.
That "horrible" final realization - one Africa's Snow White, like many others, also finally had to face ...
Then one day Jennifer finally made this rather momentous statement, an admission that no daughter (or son) should ever have to make: "I could never have imagined (not even in my worst nightmares!) that by far the single worst enemy I have ever had - In my entire life ... was my very own birth mother". This was Jen's definitive "Snow White moment". It's that moment in time when the one truth that she was just not programmed to consider and that she was trying so hard to deny, gelled and became unmistakable undeniable reality in Jen's mind. It's also the moment the little "Aha! light in our minds" started to glow bright ... Somewhere, in our past, we had heard of something similar to all of this? I guess I can understand how one would want to desperately try to avoid coming to this conclusion. This is indeed a very painful thing to have to accept! When Jen finally gave up trying to convince herself that her mother's treatment of her and our family was in any way loving, and saw it for what it really was ... in that moment, she faced this stark reality: It was controlling manipulation, cruel and selfish; it was abuse - plain and simple! Certainly the one thing it was not - was love ... just the opposite. This was a major breakthrough. It's true, you know: "The truth will set you free". Suddenly, for Jennifer, "black was black, white was white, day was day and night was night". Now all things made perfect sense to Jen - no more clouded confusion of being told one thing while instinctively feeling another ... and we were all quite relieved! Even so, I felt desperately sorry for my lovely wife. I would have given almost anything to just have had Jennifer and her mother enjoy a more normal healthy happy relationship like all my childhood girlfriends had enjoyed with their moms! Facing these brutal truths, actually takes a LOT of courage!
Living across the lake from our enemy - Closer to danger, further from harm
The year 2002
... Jen gets a surrogate mom who regards
our sons as grandchildren - and she is nice, even to
me!
The year (2002) would not be complete without introducing you to a new member of our family. You will remember that one of Jennifer's mother's famous quotes (Personally, we really all wish she never said it) was the now infamous: "I'll forget I ever had you and I'll get myself another daughter and some other grandchildren". How stupidly sad! By the way, Jen's mother has been unable to replace this family - not Jen or our sons (or even me). It turns out that absolutely nobody wants to "step into our old shoes". I cannot say I blame them - do you? Well, throughout this story you have met Jen and our sons and seen exactly what the old-matriarch gave up ... The word "Stupid" comes to mind!
It is interesting to note that while Jennifer's mother has not been able to find herself "another daughter and some other grandchildren", the reverse is not true! Some time ago Jennifer met a 73 year old lady who's own daughter had cruelly rejected her, declaring herself no longer "of this world", and no longer in need of an "imperfect" mother and totally ignoring her mother's repeated pleas to try to fix whatever it was about her that now "irked" this daughter. But nothing was good enough for the daughter, a self-proclaimed "Prophetess" ... and so the old lady was callously "pushed-aside" and abandoned by her. Needless to say, the many friends of this fine old lady did not feel the same way about her and all of them rallied round her and moved her out of the daughter's house and into an apartment where she now has no shortage of visitors ... including us. Now she has several daughters, sons and grandchildren visiting her and calls Jennifer her "daughter", and Jennifer has adopted her as "her mom" and, quite naturally, our sons call her "Grandma Jean". All Grandma Jean's friends would have been really happy for her if her own daughter "came down to earth again" and treated her nicely, so it was not an absolutely perfect scenario for all of us involved, but, to be fair, it's so very much nicer than the lonely alternatives! Rather than write too much about this, here is a picture - that's worth a thousand words:
Let this photograph stand as "a lesson in reality" to all those eternally nasty people who think that we have to put up with all their nonsense ... regardless, just because they are genetically related to us! We don't have to, and we will end up "voting with our feet to exit stage left ".
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Real mom
As an adult, I never had a real mom, but in you I found a mom that's real … for the many things that moms should do, for all the loving things that moms should feel.
For so long now I’ve not had a mother,
Some say I should have gone crazy, (Jennifer Eloff , Mother’s day, 2006) |
Jen and our family have had Jean
visit with us on every mother's day and every Christmas,
for many years. She has been like a mother to Jen, and a
mother-in-law to me (I jokingly tell Jean that if only
she could be really mean to me, occasionally, it would
all seem more authentic to me) and she has been a
Grandmother to Dan and Jon. She was cruelly robbed of
her children, but God saw fit to introduce Jen and Jean
to each other when we first moved to "Chalet Rose", and
she and all of us have benefited greatly from the many
years we have known each other - a perfect example of
God's love in action! So here then, is a photo of
Mother's Day 2006 celebrated in "Chalet Rose" with
"grandma Jean" and our friends.
For any of you folks who have followed much of our story, and seen how, for 31 years now how Jennifer's mother has tried to do battle with "True Love" ... and repeatedly lost, I have to make this point: Do you see how incredibly happy we all are? And how our family stands united and is so blessed? Well, if ever you are tempted to do battle with "true love" and it's lovers, or you become aware of anyone else who is tempted to do so, just remember this ... It's a grievous wrong, and needless pain and suffering will ensue for all involved. So why not just try and get along?
2003, we may as well just stick to this one image (which is suitably described within the story) as this event dominated our lives. That's Jen's mother's neighborhood across the lake.
2004 ... Jen has written some lovely poems. Here is another. Earlier you got to see what I did for Jennifer to say: "Thank you" to her on our 25th wedding anniversary (These paintings). So how exactly did Jen choose to say "Thank you" and "I love you" to me on our 25th anniversary? Well, Jen wrote and then read me this poem ... and you'll understand when I say that for me it was "choke-up time"!
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A
25th Wedding Anniversary Poem for You, My Darling Ian:
I don't think
you will
Ever fully understand
How you've touched my life
And helped form who I am today
When you're not here to share my
days
My life feels so incomplete
For you are my only love
The "oneness" I had known to seek
How could you
ever know
Just how truly special you are
That even in my darkest hours
You are my brightest star
You have made
my dreams come true
You have shown me
And opened my heart wide open
To what unconditional love can be
This journey together was started
long ago
Before this time and place
The journey of completeness
As two hearts and souls embrace
You've stood
beside me through thick and thin
Through all that life has thrown our way
Now I know the special love we share
Will sustain us each and every day
You are an
amazing person
Each day is fun to spend with you
Your love for God and family and joy of life
Completes me ... and I love you!
Forever is what I want with you
For the search has long ago ended
Our hearts found each other
As lovers, as soul-mates, as friends!
Poem
by Jennifer Eloff (June 2004)
Jen borrowed the 3 verses in black from
"Keeper of my Dreams" - a poem by Denise Mangano
Needless to say it was a pretty emotional poem to write and every bit as emotional to receive! It's one thing to give something romantic, loving, something nice, to the ones you love, But it's entirely a different experience to receive the same things gracefully. I'm working on that.
So what did the old queen do to commemorate our 25th wedding anniversary? Having long since had no direct contact with any of us, frustrated that she could no longer inflict her special kind of "pain and suffering" at will, she wrote a letter to ANYONE who knew us in our youth (including my parents!) saying how her daughter could have done so much better for herself - if only she had listened and married "her choice" ... not me!
Well, what's left to say but: "Fairy-Tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart", and you know, it did come true!
Acknowledgement:
All of
these beautiful art works, as well as the cover art for these novels
were painted by the world-famous
CANADIAN
artist, Jonathon Earl Bowser. To see more
artworks (depicting well-dressed women in beautiful natural settings)
you can browse the website located at:
www.GreatMasterpieces.com
We discovered him, encouraged him and became his publisher too.
And here's
another little surprise, despite the queen's concerted efforts to
sabotage all of this - to prevent it
from ever happening. NOTE:
Houston is not Jen's hometown - that's a fortunate error
that helped us to hide right under the queen's nose!
Visit Jennifer's WEBSITES: www.Low-Carb.US & www.AmongFriends.US BLOG: http://low-carb-news.blogspot.com/
In the new South Africa the danger exists of a huge part of South Africa's history being lost in the shuffle, and these millions of real-life very human stories, will simply disappear. That would represent a huge cultural and historic loss for South Africa, Africa and the World! Perhaps now, after South Africa's very successful hosting of the FIFA Soccer World cup, people's interest will be piqued enough to start exploring a truly unique country, its peoples and its history. We have all heard a great deal of how the colonial and apartheid eras affected Black Africans and nobody can deny their very real trauma! However, millions of European settlers with 100's of years of family history in Africa, paid a very dear price too, and their trauma still continues - unabated! With the shame of the apartheid era now behind South Africa, and forgiveness on both sides of that struggle now well underway, it is finally time for all of South Africa's very human stories to emerge from apartheid's shadows, to take their place on the world stage.