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The Covenant

A Novel

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The Covenant

Written by: James A. Michener
Narrated by: Larry McKeever
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James A. Michener’s masterly chronicle of South Africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. From the Java-born Van Doorn family tree springs two great branches: one nurtures lush vineyards, the other settles the interior to become the first Trekboers and Afrikaners. The Nxumalos, inhabitants of a peaceful village unchanged for centuries, unite warrior tribes into the powerful Zulu nation. And the wealthy Saltwoods are missionaries and settlers who join the masses to influence the wars and politics that ravage a nation. Rivalries and passions spill across the land of The Covenant, a story of courage and heroism, love and loyalty, and cruelty and betrayal, as generations fight to forge a new world.

Praise for The Covenant

“A prodigious endeavor . . . Nowhere else could an American reader unfamiliar with South Africa get so full an understanding of its problems in so engaging a form.”—The New York Times Book Review Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction War Military Africa Imperialism Middle Ages British Empire Latin America

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What the critics say

“A prodigious endeavor . . . Nowhere else could an American reader unfamiliar with South Africa get so full an understanding of its problems in so engaging a form.”—The New York Times Book Review
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I found it incredibly dissatifying that the major political and historic changes including historic political transformation of 1994 - 2024 (since the completion of the book) was not even commented on. Without that the 54 hrs of listening is a waste. Further: one of the elements of great importance was language! This was highly emphasized yet the narrator did not take anytime in figuring out how to pronounce the names and afrikaans words correctly . Super annoying and simply disrespectful to any afrikaans listener.

The history of south africa was interesting

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Strange combination of facts and fiction. I usually prefer non fiction but this was an interesting way to tell a story considering there would be little or no written history. Good history of South Africa from before European settlement until mid apartheid

Great book

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So worth the 50+ hours of listening if you are into hearing about different points of view about the evolution of South Africa!

Great glimpse of history

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Kitchener at his best!! I would have rated this 5 starts if not for the poor choice of narrator. His pronunciation was terrible.

Awesome storyline, let down by the narration

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Perhaps a person/ narrator who could pronounce the words correctly would have been a better person for the job. It makes me cringe -

The performance leaves much to be desired

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