Dr. Tapasya Narang reviews an ambitious and extraordinary novel—Meadowlands Dawn, by Jo Beall
Jo Beall sets Meadowlands Dawn in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, offering an exceptional portrayal of the experiences of a political prisoner. While grappling with the subject of police brutality and life in areas of conflict, Beall writes surprising, enthralling prose in this innovative and extraordinary novel.
The book opens with the arrest of Verity Saunders, an English woman who has supported the anti-apartheid struggle and facilitated her partner’s escape from South Africa. The narrative does not hold back on the details of the dilapidated living conditions nor of the brutality levelled on political prisoners. As Verity explores the interior of her cell she encounters grim surroundings:
Her hand scraped against something crusty on the wall. It was row upon row of four lines crossed out by filth, where a previous occupant must have counted down the days of their incarceration in their own excrement. […] Fighting waves of nausea, she looked for a wash basin, but could not see one. No sink. No tap. No bucket. No water.
As the narrative progresses there are shocking incidents of torture and psychological trauma inflicted on Verity. While interrogating her, the prison officers play tapes of her partner Tariq cheating on her with another woman, convincing her that she was a pawn for him and his ally Imran. As she lies in prison she remembers the challenges of living with Tariq who himself was incarcerated and emotionally damaged by sexual violence.
No details are spared while describing this violence
Exposing the bleakest aspects of being a prisoner, Beall portrays Verity’s rape by officers in the dead of night. Verity wakes up in her cell to see ‘a man drop his trousers, his erection bobbing as he played to an audience that began to stamp and cheer’. No details are spared while describing this violence.
Beall’s realistic depictions of violent events—where perpetrators act because of their compulsion to impose power and deny any sliver of humanity to the prisoners—function as a form of activism: The reader is brought face to face with the complete destruction of human rights in the not-so-distant past, and in its candour the book speaks as a testament against crimes of humanity which continue in other parts of the world today.
Although the book is written in the third person, the predominant perspective is Verity’s, whose access to information is limited. We share her discomforts and disappointments in the face of betrayals from her allies. However, Beall offers a certain distance from the character, reminding us that Verity’s perspective is one of many in apartheid South Africa which destroyed the lives of several generations.
The second part of the novel, in keeping with the title, symbolises a new dawn in Verity’s life. Thirty years later she arrives in South Africa to encounter her family and friends leading a different life in a capitalist driven society. Verity decides to unravel mysteries around the resistance movement and her former partner Tariq’s involvement in the struggle. In her quest to find answers, she meets former officers and seeks an apology from the man who raped her.
In the midst of violence and animosities, Verity returns constantly to the beauty of the ancient landscape. She draws comfort and strength from the resilience of nature:
As she descended the part vertiginous cliffs which reared up from grassy inclines, she stopped only to watch a Rock Kestrel hovering overhead, its wings barely moving, as it scanned the landscape for prey. Verity breathed in the crisp Drakensburg air, lines of sweat ran from her crown down the back of her neck, and she remembered that she too had been a dreamer who had flown into danger with passion and without fear.
In the midst of violence and animosities, Verity returns constantly to the beauty of the ancient landscape
The narrative combines harrowing violence, an intriguing plot, and lyrical descriptions of the natural world. Jo Beall’s debut is remarkable in its ambition and execution. In bearing witness to Verity’s imprisonment and post-trauma, we encounter the impact of settler colonialism on individual lives. The novel could not be more timely or necessary as racial discrimination and hostile attitudes towards ethnic minorities are surfacing across the world.
