The Housemaid's Daughter
by Barbara Mutch

a review

The Housemaid's Daughter is a novel that is set in the Karoo, a semi-arid region in South Africa, and covers the period from 1919 to the 1990's. This is a good novel for those who want to know more about life under Apartheid rule. It is about a black woman named Ada and her White mistress who is called Mrs Cathleen Harrington. Oppressive racism is  the major theme of the story. Ada and Mrs Cathleen Harrington has almost a mother-daughter relationship. It uses straightforward language but the racism of Apartheid is depicted vividly in the novel.

The story is told from a first-person perspective of Ada, with a few excerpts from Cathleen's diary. Ada is also the protagonist. Cathleen is a nice woman who treats Ada well but her husband Edward refuses to send Ada to school although she displays talents in reading and music. Edward is a representation of the white supremacist attitude while his wife represents a liberal and humane attitude to Non-whites.  Edward takes advantage of Ada after her mother died, while she is still a teenager by raping her while his wife is away. Ada feels she has no right to refuse.

Ada is the character that will intrigue readers. She is a strong-willed woman despite the losses that she has had to endure. At first she lost Phil, the only son of Mr and Mrs Harrington. Phil was quite friendly and treated Ada nicely. Phil was quite young when he passed away due to post-traumatic stress disorder. Ada was very sad at first but she learned to move on after Phil's death. After Phil passed away, Cathleen ha to go to Johannesburg to help Rosemary with her unplanned pregnancy, leaving Ada alone with her master. It is then that Edward takes advantage of Ada. When she realizes that she is pregnant, she runs away from the master's house to her aunt's hut in the black township. There she leads a difficult life. Although she is forced to go through numerous difficulties in her life, she does not complain but learns to accept them.

When Ada arrives at her aunt's hut, she does not receive a warm welcome from her aunt. Instead her aunt said that she must leave once her baby is born. The Black township is a complete contrast to the White areas. The White areas have facilities, good school, banks, indoor plumbing, electricity and hospitals, but the Black township has none of those. Readers will feel sympathetic to and at the same time impressed by Ada's ability to persevere through the most challenging times of her life. During the time her baby is born, Apartheid had already started and Ada will go through some of the difficulties that the Blacks had to face.

She gets a teaching job at another Black township. Although she is then fortunate enough to have a house to stay in, the difficulties of the township are still there. This time the baby is already born and  she is named Dawn. When Dawn grows up in the Black township, she becomes a sturdy and courageous girl who can take on anything.

When Ada goes to the city, she witnesses the segregation of Whites and Blacks  when she sees benches that are specifically marked for Whites and Blacks. Ada hears about the Sharpeville massacre and the Soweto uprising. These events just showed how bad Apartheid was. Ada is even arrested for threatening the White superintendent of the city. To the Blacks, what Ada has done is pure bravery.  Ada does not want to go for any rallies because she wants to take care of the now ailing Mrs Cathleen to whom she has returned, as well as her daughter Dawn. Ada's caring attitude and perseverance will definitely make the readers want to read to the end.

For anyone who wants to know the hardships and struggles during Apartheid, this novel will give an excellent insight into those.