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A Secretary's Wife

A Secretary's Wife is a work of historical fiction that draws from real events and people who emerge from the journals and letters of Lady Anne Barnard while she was in the Cape for the period 1797–1802. Lady Anne Lindsay marries a younger man without title or fortune. When he lands a position as se...

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Main Author: Owen, Catherine
Other Authors: Coovadia, Imraan
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School of Languages and Literatures 2023
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access_status_str Open Access
author Owen, Catherine
author2 Coovadia, Imraan
author_browse Coovadia, Imraan
Owen, Catherine
author_facet Coovadia, Imraan
Owen, Catherine
author_sort Owen, Catherine
collection Thesis
description A Secretary's Wife is a work of historical fiction that draws from real events and people who emerge from the journals and letters of Lady Anne Barnard while she was in the Cape for the period 1797–1802. Lady Anne Lindsay marries a younger man without title or fortune. When he lands a position as secretary to the governor of the Cape, she is determined to go with him. They make the journey on a crowded ship to Cape Town and, on arrival, find the Cape expensive and turbulent. Narrow-minded people complain incessantly, slavery and hangings are rife, and shortages of wood, flour and other commodities are commonplace. Life improves after they are offered accommodation in the abandoned old Government House at the castle. They set up a home and try to understand the culture, the people around them and each other. Barnard begins to thrive leaving Anne to her own devices. At the same time, she come to terms with being barren within the context of her society. The use of a country cottage called Paradise helps the Barnards reconnect, but when Lady Anne suspects Barnard's infidelity with a slave woman and, due to ill health, the governor leaves the Cape, life can never be the same again. In writing this work, I have attempted to reimagine Lady Anne Barnard's life, in particular the personal aspects to which she may have made fleeting references, otherwise it is entirely fictional.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:15.376Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher School of Languages and Literatures
publisherStr School of Languages and Literatures
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37729 A Secretary's Wife Owen, Catherine Coovadia, Imraan Creative Writing A Secretary's Wife is a work of historical fiction that draws from real events and people who emerge from the journals and letters of Lady Anne Barnard while she was in the Cape for the period 1797–1802. Lady Anne Lindsay marries a younger man without title or fortune. When he lands a position as secretary to the governor of the Cape, she is determined to go with him. They make the journey on a crowded ship to Cape Town and, on arrival, find the Cape expensive and turbulent. Narrow-minded people complain incessantly, slavery and hangings are rife, and shortages of wood, flour and other commodities are commonplace. Life improves after they are offered accommodation in the abandoned old Government House at the castle. They set up a home and try to understand the culture, the people around them and each other. Barnard begins to thrive leaving Anne to her own devices. At the same time, she come to terms with being barren within the context of her society. The use of a country cottage called Paradise helps the Barnards reconnect, but when Lady Anne suspects Barnard's infidelity with a slave woman and, due to ill health, the governor leaves the Cape, life can never be the same again. In writing this work, I have attempted to reimagine Lady Anne Barnard's life, in particular the personal aspects to which she may have made fleeting references, otherwise it is entirely fictional. 2023-04-14T08:34:21Z 2023-04-14T08:34:21Z 2022 2023-04-14T06:48:26Z Master Thesis Masters MA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37729 eng application/pdf School of Languages and Literatures Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Creative Writing
Owen, Catherine
A Secretary's Wife
thesis_degree_str Master's
title A Secretary's Wife
title_full A Secretary's Wife
title_fullStr A Secretary's Wife
title_full_unstemmed A Secretary's Wife
title_short A Secretary's Wife
title_sort secretary s wife
topic Creative Writing
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37729
work_keys_str_mv AT owencatherine asecretaryswife
AT owencatherine secretaryswife