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The Sunburnt Queen by Hazel Crampton promises to tell the true story of how “In the late 1730’s a seven-year-old English girl is washed up on the Wild Coast.” The young girl in question being Bessie, a white child adopted by her rescuers the amaMpondo, who grew in “...beauty and wisdom and became the Great Wife of a prince…[the legacy of which] extends to many of today’s Xhosa Royal families.”

Sadly the book doesn’t live up to the expectation created by its blurb. Yes it does tell Bessie’s story, in a round about way, but this only encompasses fragments of the books total content. The remainder of which chronicles the history of the many other castaways and shipwrecks of the time, including commentary on the often-fatal interaction between the indigenous people of the West Coast, and the European castaways themselves.

In fairness the blurb on the book cover does explain that the story of other castaways of that era will be included. But the thrust of the book is supposed to be the story of Bessie – indeed the book has a wonderful representation of a young girl filling its cover. One would therefore be forgiven for questioning the expectation of reading this book to gain personal insight into what must have been a traumatic experience for a young white girl, and how she personally managed to deal with this and her subsequent years of life.

That said Bessie is peppered throughout the book, although you might find yourself wondering if she really needs to be there. It’s almost as if the author felt she needed to sneak her in every so often.

As to shipwrecks, much attention is given to the legendary ship The Grosvenor that was purported to have been carrying a treasure trove in its hull when it ran aground in 1782, the significance of this being to link some of the castaways to Bessie herself.

As would be expected, much is based on hearsay and the subjectivity of knowledge gained from the oral history of “descendants”. But all said and done the book does offer you a glimpse of hope that some of the castaways did in fact manage to survive the harsh elements they were presented with.

Without a doubt the book is a masterful representation of History, covering the late 17th century to early to mid 18th century. Ms Crampton has researched prolifically, and clearly has a passion for her subject, as can be seen from the Bibliography included, not to mention the timelines, punctuation and glossary sections. Her attention to detail and her knowledge of the various cultures is evident and it would be fair to say she presents a credible dialogue.

Probably the way to approach this book is to put Bessie to one side and to read only with the intention of learning about the South African History pertaining to the West Coast, and the many shipwrecks and people involved. Keep Bessie in mind, but don’t look for her biography.