'Mountains More Ancient' sheds light on Indonesian slavery in South Africa .
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Loading... - Akira Tanaka
- 13 Mar 2023
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Author Isna Marifa published her debut work titled Mountains More Ancient in 2020. It is a fictional tale with a real historical backdrop. The novel's main character, Parto, portrays a Javanese man who falls into debt and is sold to the Dutch by a loan shark. Parto takes his daughter, Wulan, with him, thinking that he would be sent to a plantation in Sumatra, but instead, they find themselves in Africa with no way back home.
"They face such an unfortunate situation where they can't decide their future," Isna said.
"However, in that situation, they are able to find spiritual freedom, which gives them a path to survival," she continued.
Isna aims to have readers rediscover facets of their heritage and the intricacies of culture within each person's life.
Toward its end, the story focuses on its characters finding a rare type of "freedom" that comes with surrendering to fate and letting go of one's desires and former life.
Reconnecting
Isna says she began writing the book after she visited South Africa in 2015 when her plane had a stopover in Cape Town. Read More…
