Lawrence Green - Tavern of the Seas - Book Review

Lawrence Green: Tavern of the Seas

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This was Lawrence Green's third book and today it is viewed as a valuable addition to South African literature. Being Born as I was under the shadow of Table Mountain, this book touches a sensitive spot in my heart. Even though I left Cape Town more than fifty years ago, it's sounds, smells and culture still burn bright in my memory.

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Lawrence Green brings to life a forgotten Cape Town, odd and eccentric characters make their appearance and the sounds of hawkers hawking their wares on the Grand Parade ring out from the pages. The Cape Minstrels, formerly called the Cape Coons in less PC days, march along the streets in brightly colored costumes singing songs of days gone by accompanied by their music played in their own inimitable way.

In it's pages the snoek-horn sounds. I still remember my mother buying snoek from the colored street hawkers pulling their distinctive green carts.

He describes the old Cape Town docks long before the modern waterfront was built, The south-easter blows, you hear the cranking of the cranes , if you squint you can almost see the old sailing ships at the quays.

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I have only touched the surface of this fascinating book, its pages are full of nostalgia for a time long past. It tells of gastronomic delights and the end of an era. Lawrence Green brings to life Cape town and the Cape Peninsula as few other writer's can.