(The cover of the book)As Pieter Scholtz admits himself, The Tree Whisperer is a considerable departure from the books he normally writes, as it combines autobiographical detail with fantasy. He admits that at one stage he tried to write himself out of the story but this proved fruitless.
A well-known director and writer, he has written and published no less than 27 plays for young audiences in a series entitled Plays for Young Africa. An Emeritus Professor Drama from the University of Natal (now UKZN), he is the former head of the University’s Department of Drama Studies and its Open Air Theatre is named after him. He received the Amstel Playwright of the Year award in 1979 and again in 1980 for the first two plays in his Tambootie series.
In 2004 his first book of short stories, Tales of the Tokoloshe, was published by Struik and it went into reprint a year later. Struik also published The Demon of the Curry Powders in 2006.
Many of Pieter Scholtz’s plays were performed in the University’s Open Air Theatre, before he founded the sadly now-defunct Kwasuka Theatre in Greyville where hundreds of youngsters delighted to the fun and magic of his writings.
While still incorporating a sense of magic, The Tree Whisperer is semi-autobiographical and focuses on three trees that are important in his life. Into his well-ordered existence comes a free spirit who calls herself Angel. Forthright, impish, mischievous and disarming, she sends up his age and predictable behaviour. She has a deep secret. She also seems to have a purpose which involves him.
The story moves from Ixopo to Durban to Eshowe. We move amid Forest Knobwoods, Fluted Milkwoods, Giant Ironwoods. He connects leprechauns, tokoloshes and the Anglo-Boer war. He teaches Angel about Jung and syncronicity. She teaches him to communicate with trees. He helps her make peace with her biological parents.
The Tree Whisperer is the latest in a list of books Pieter Scholtz has published under his own imprint, Horus Publications. It is an engaging but also a thought-provoking tale that will appeal to anyone with a feel for magic and an affinity to trees. In my carefree childhood in Kenya, I spent most of my daylight hours up whatever tree I could climb, enjoying the secret leafy hideaway so I can relate to Angel’s character.
The book is dedicated to Pieter’s late wife, the much-loved and respected dancer and choreographer, Jilian Hurst. Whether intended or not, Angel embodies Jilly’s outlook and her same ironic sense of fun.
The Tree Whisperer is available at Adams at Musgrave Centre at R110.. ISBN 978 062 050 8605. – Caroline Smart
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