Book One · the founder's story
Of the Forest
From a Frisian peat bog to the Cape, 1700 to 1757.
One poor migrant, one freed slave, and the family that grew from them. This is the line you come from. Chapter one is free, for everyone.
Chapter one is open to everyone. Claim your place to unlock chapter two, then a new chapter every week.
How the book opens up
The whole of Book One, free. It simply unfolds as you become part of the family.
Chapter one, free
Open to everyone, no sign-up. The story of the bog, and what made a man leave everything.
Chapter two, on claiming
Claim your place on the family tree, free, and chapter two opens at once.
A chapter a week
From there, a new chapter opens every week, all the way to Johanna.
The book closes in 1757. The family did not. The living tree carries the line from there to you.
Also about Gaele
Teen die Stormwinde in is Ernst van der Walt's book on Gaele's life, in Afrikaans. The facts in this story were checked against it, and a short film is being made from it.
See the trailer →