Knot of Stone is a unique story about an isolated murder that changed the course of history—first in South Africa, then across western Europe. Watch our video clip for a quick introduction to the ‘Battle of Goringhaiqua’.
Knot of Stone is a 2011 novel about the making of Europe and its relationship to Africa, set against an age-old balance of power between Eastern and Western societies. Like the strands of a Gordian knot—complex, intricate and elegant—this story unravels the lives and events that have redirected historical developments on a world stage.
Knot of Stone is a tale of historical detection in which two unlikely travel companions —a Dutch historian, Sonja Haas, and an Afrikaans archaeologist, Jason Tomas—find themselves drawn together after the chance discovery of a centuries-old skeleton below Table Mountain, on the old foreshore of Cape Town. Their search for fresh evidence leads the reader further north to ancestral burial sites, remote mountain sanctuaries, sacred springs, medieval monasteries and some rare museum artefacts. Via various roadside encounters, including the startling revelations of a local sangoma (a healer empowered by the ancestors), the two reconstruct the past and their own identities, with divergent consequences. As the book’s main focaliser, Sonja’s inner conflict reflects a passage from doubt (tormentoso) to hope (esperança), echoing the transition from a Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope. Like Sonja’s search for herself, this story is ultimately a tale of self-discovery.
Knot of Stone is published in the UK and US. To purchase a copy, see online offers.
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