Searching for an identity – this is one of the main themes in Dalene’s books. Her books also explore the relationship between race and identity, and the extent to which race influences identity. Said Matthee: “The composition, DNA, personality – something of the race to which one belongs gives one something which is unique.”
Her inspiration often came from the splendour of history, which she described as “often the only window through which one can climb to search for a silent truth. To search thoroughly and honestly.”
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Circles in a Forest 
Saul Barnard is a woodcutter with a restless soul - he wants to keep strangers…
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The Mulberry Forest 
Silkworm farmers from Italy were lured to Gouna in the Knysna Forest to establish a…
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Fiela’s Child 
On the one side of the mountain, in the Long Kloof, there's Fiela Komoetie, devoted…
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Dreamforest 
It tells the story of the intimate relationship of an initiated "forest woman" with the…
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The Day the Swallows Spoke 
Araminta, a young white South African, is desperate to earn enough money to be able…
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Pieternella, Daughter of Eva 
This is the story of Pieternella, daughter of the Danish surgeon Pieter van Meerhoff and…
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Driftwood 
Throughout his life, Moses Swart, shepherd from the Bredasdorp Strandveld, felt he never belonged to…