Tales from an Unmapped Country

“I have an idea,” said Kain. “You must go and visit my old village. Because why? Because you are always travelling and talking to people. When you come back you will be able to tell me the truth, but not to hurt my heart. You will tell me and I will be pleased to hear, but I don’t want to go there again myself, it will make my heart too sore.”
Both journeys offer up wonderful insights into places and people, and into the persona and character of the author.

This latest offering from Bartle Logie, his eighth, follows, to a large extent, the pattern established in his previous books: meticulous research, both on the ground and from reference material, and an easy, personal, story-telling style.
But there is a difference with “Tales”. It is a book of two journeys: one through the Border area of the Eastern Cape and the eastern fringes of the Karoo, and the other a personal one through memories of the author’s eventful and fascinating youth.
Inspired by his friend Kain Sisusa, Bartle and his wife Caryl set out to spend a year visiting familiar places to see how, if at all, they had changed. And then, “trolling through our memories, we would take a parallel journey, returning to the unmapped country of yesteryear”.