Four stories, Four women, One family.
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"Oh my love, in a world set against us, we are bound to succeed."
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Please see inside for the full description! ♥️
For a long time, I have had a story in my mind that I wasn't sure I should write.
My family history and all the French Hugenot's history is NOT pretty. Being persecuted for your faith is never fun. My family, the Joubert's also had to deal with this. The first Joubert to land in our country was Pierre Joubert. I very vaguely modelled Gerard La Ponte after him. When I say vaguely, I mean Gerard isn't at all like him except for the wine farm thing.
A story that I had heard a while back was that he hid a Bible in a loaf of bread on his journey out of France. I found that really cool.
This story is a story of four women in four eras who all belong to the La Ponte family, whether they find themselves married in or they are daughters of the La Ponte family.
The La Ponte family aren't actually a part of the French Hugenots, but I didn't want to pull a name out of a hat and get told off by some Le Roux or Du Toit person who thinks their ancestors weren't really like that.
You will see the struggles out of France from Anne Marie and Gerard, and find a colonised country with Geraldine and Francois (there is more of course but that's for you to read and find out!). Lizzie's story is one of the traumatic events that happened in the Second Boer War (or Anglo-Boer War). For those interested, the women and children of the soldiers in the war were taken to Concentration Camps. For more information you can google Emily Hobhouse! She helped a lot of the women and children. Our last story is one of a girl modelled a lot after the author of this story, finding meaning and acceptance in the bad hand that was dealt to her.
Please note that Geraldine is an English woman and Francois was Afrikaans! Lizzie and Sophie were also Afrikaans. Most of the French Hugenots' families ended up becoming Afrikaans!
Please note that I didn't include the Apartheid Years because, well, South Africa has a lot more history than that! I, in no way, say that the struggles experienced by the black community isn't worth talking about. Because it is. It was a traumatic time in South African history. And I am not invalidating any of that. But, even if I did choose to write about it, I don't believe it's my story to tell. That belongs to the victims of the time. Please understand, I am proud of my people. They have come far and they have endured so so so much.
A book I highly recommend in order to change your perspective, especially that of the Boer War, but also give you a clue of some of what I'm talking about here, you can find on Apple Books (for free!)
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Written out of an Englishman's perspective, this book (along with my Bible) changed my life. It changed my vision, and made me see things clearly for the first time in 23 years. If you're South African, I believe it might do that for you too. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote one more book titled The War In South Africa. I haven't read it yet. But I look forward to.
But otherwise, please, enjoy this little something different.
