Natasha Illum Berg
Books by Natasha
Tea on the Blue Sofa
Bark of the Sundogs
Looking at Harry
Rivers of Red Earth
So Wanton a God
"My mother once met a dead tiger. In Margali, India. Four years before I was born. She walked up to its still warm body with timid steps, wary of cutting its camouflaging stripes out of the shades and shadows-seeing it clearly on its own. Aware, that only its death will let you cut a tiger out of the jungle, she was overcome by sadness. In an attempt to find a way to carry with her some of the strength lost in the death of a tiger, she and my father cut out the heart and ate it. Bearing in mind the stories my grandfather told him about his times in India, my father knew that they were not the first to do such a thing. If there is strength in anything, it must be in a tiger’s heart."
- Excerpt from Tea on the Blue sofa
Reviews
Main daily newspapers in the UK etc.
"The bravest of the brave, the most generous of the generous. It takes real courage both to love as deeply and write as well as Natasha Illum Berg. Her memoir of a love that died before it could be born already deserves to be called a classic."
-Fiametta Rocco, Economist.
"Well written if at times painful to read....painstakingly honest...an enigmatic writer."
-Daily Telegraph.
"The evocation of her grief and sense of loss is quite mooving...it works well."
-Evening standard.
" This slender yet unsentimental tribute to friendship and the devastation of loss before love has scarecely got into its stride could become an African classic. Natasha Illum Berg captures the essence of who Tonio was, without imprisoning him on a page. The dedication of Tea on the blue sofa speaks volumes to me, his mother.
-Errol Trzebinski.