Dance With A Poor Man's Daughter Paperback – 1 Nov. 1998

A really interesting little story which is told through the eyes of a young South African girl growing up in one of the poorer parts of Cape Town.

Believable characters . A time in the past which should not be forgotten just because it took place in a country far away

It is so exciting to discover a new Author as talented as Pamela Jooste. Her style of writing is so delightful to read and was like glimpsing into the diary of young Lily, the main character. Her grandmothers faith and valuable life lessons thread the story like gold nuggets, and her mother, Gloria, offers a lesson for all of us in determination, forgiveness and acceptance. With its political nature, as a white South African, this book has given me a compassion for the apartheid struggles that I never fully understood. I would highly recommend this book, especially to every white South African.

I first read this book many years ago, and I have read it a few times since..... Pamela Jooste writes as though she is a 12 year old black girl living with her family in South Africa at the time of apartheid. It is one of the best books I have ever read and the only book that moved me to real tears near the end of the book. If you can take yourself back to being a 12 year old girl I think you will love this book!!

These stories will always haunt us. What a special place District Six must have been. I wonder if Gus-seep is Mattie?

This is a beautiful and moving book, full of little stories that made me laugh and cry. I loved the characters so much by the end that I felt a bit like Lily does having to leave them behind. Though it is about the terrible cruelty that Apartheid imposed on non-whites (and 'coloureds' in particular), primarily this book is about women. Strong women who refuse to do what they are told, who 'know their own mind', who stand up for what they believe is right, though it may hurt them, or even destroy them. This is a beautiful book and as a South African woman I will hold it close to my heart for a long time.

Amazing story

Loved it. Could almost hear the young girl talking. Once again, the awareness of how difficult the lives of coloured and black people were during the apartheid period. Lest we forget.

This novel vividly describes what it was like for people of colour in apartheid South Africa and specifically the people in District 6 Cape Town who were forcibly moved from their homes. The family comes to life under the author's pen and one loves them all by the end of the book. Tender and funny this is a bitter sweet story told in the words of a young girl born in a difficult time. Despite the faults in some of her family members and the hardships they face the family remains extremely close - especially the females. I loved the book - it reflects an era of tension showing one family's struggle to survive and it's written with humour and great sensitivity.

Wonderful and heartbreaking.......a fantastic picture of pre Mandela South Africa. I simply loved it and recoomend it to all my reading friends.

Written from the perspective of an 11 year old girl living with her grandmother and aunt in one of the townships Pamela Jooste iinvolves the reader in the day to day life of the family and the close knit community. Her mother, who had been missing for most of her life, reappears and provides the perspective of an activist trying to organize protest to the edits of the Nationalist government who plan to resettle the occupants of the township in their reclassification of the area as a strictly white area. Pamela Joost, a well know South African writer, is very good at character studies and we start to understand the apartheid atrocities at a human level. I found it a book I could pick up and put down and it was ideal to read as I was travelling in South Africa.

A brilliant insight into the life of a young girl growing up in South Africa.At times tragic and very moving but difficult to put down. Although it was a novel it was hard not to think one was reading an auto biography.