Tsamma Season

For the longest time, our home defined who I was. The moods of the Kalahari … the river of my being rising and dwindling, yet always finely in tune with the undertow, the ebb and flow of the desert.’ So writes Emma, daughter of Deirdre and Alf Johannsen. Captivated by the remoteness and beauty of the Kalahari Desert after a chance visit in 1884, Emma’s father makes the decision to leave his home in Europe and return to settle in Africa. On his journey back, he meets the woman who will become his wife. Together they take on the challenge of making their home in the vast desert wilderness. During the first fourteen years of her life, Emma develops her father’s passion for the Kalahari and the singular people who become part of their lives. The desert and its creatures fulfil her; she is at ease. But when a profound and tragic difference arises between her parents, her serenity is shattered, her life disrupted. Tsamma Season is a moving, beautifully written novel of passionate love and the loss of love; of challenge and betrayal. Most of all it is about the Kalahari – its moods, its limitless horizons and rugged beauty. But the desert deals harshly with those who have the courage to live on its terms: ultimately, it is uncompromising and unforgiving … and this is something that Emma has no power to change.