****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Margie Orford's "Blood Rose" is a deeply felt story about a little known country and a little known phenomena. It is more than a murder mystery, more than an international thriller. The scourge of Aids through Africa is well documented but the fate of the orphaned children is not so well known. Their heartbreaking lives and fight for survival is an intrinsic part of this story.This is the story of Clare Hart, a police profiler who goes to Walvis Bay to help find the killer of these homeless boys. The gritty life of this isolated town is vividly described and the people she meets from a very pregnant local police officer to the orphans of the town are engaging and realistic. Margie Orford also describes the slowly disappearing native culture and their link to the desert. I found this inordinately gripping.One of my favourite images was of the old eucalypt on the edge of the desert. A tree is such an sign of hope in a desicated landscape but Margie Orford gradually shifts our perception of this tree. I like a book that stays with me. So many I read become just a blur of names. This book made me uncomfortablely aware of how cocooned I am in a very safe, indulged enviroment. Margie Orford, thank you for this reading pleasure. I really look forward to reading more of your books.
