Review: Under Glass by Claire Robertson

Mrs Chetwyn arrived in Africa with her young daughter amid a storm. Her husband went ahead, and while she fears they may not reach the shore, he hunts. Once safely ashore in Natal, she began the arduous journey of making a life in a foreign country. Chetwyn was promised assistance from his father, yet the couple soon discovers that any land which they purchase will belong to them only if they produce an heir. Yet Mrs Chetwyn’s second and third pregnancies produce girls.

Determined to try again for the security of the family, Mrs Chetwyn becomes pregnant once more. Cosmo, the fifth child of the pair, was the answer to their prayers – a son to whom the land could be left; a savior of the family, arriving at precisely the right time. Surrounded by the women in his family, he is a prized possession, with both his person and the weight balanced precariously upon his shoulders watched and guarded obsessively.

As Cosmo grows, so does his responsibility as sole son and heir. All the while, the family’s farm flourishes, and Mrs Chetwyn’s garden, gifted to her in unknown seeds by an enthusiastic botanist, becomes her sole escape and private sanctuary.

I was almost weary of reading Under Glass, for colonial-era literature can be tricky to navigate, the waters surrounding the topic both muddy and deep, yet Claire Robertson avoids all the usual pitfalls of literature of this type. Her focus on language and race is only as a foundation for an enchanting story, and not a focus point that dwarfs the plot. The plot itself is akin to the specimens in Mrs Chetwyn’s garden – multifaceted and eager to unfurl as petals on an exotic plant. Robertson has a talent for presenting the unexpected, and for shepherding the reader into a world beyond their own.

Under Glass is unpredictable, poetic, and deeply thrilling. It is a story of more than new beginnings and the family which casts them – it breaks borders between loves won and lost, secrets hidden and revealed, and circumstances beyond one’s control. A worthy read for any literary fan, Under Glass will find a home on any shelf, and certainly be cherished there.

Under Glass by Claire Robertson is published by Umuzi, an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa.