Under the Tablecloth of Table Mountain: A journey through District Six

At 80 years old, Cecilia Reynolds, who grew up in District Six and is still awaiting land restitution, has taken the bold step to tell her and her family's diverse, and memorable stories of the community where she lived. Her book entitled "Under the Tablecloth of Table Mountain: A District Six Memoir" is one not to be missed.

The book is a memoir of her life in District Six and gently takes the reader into the cobbled streets of the colourful and radiant community, with her descriptive and colloquial language and personal writing style. Published by Amazon.com the book  with its illustrations are by Kayla Grimwood, with a foreword by her daughter, Corrine Lambert.

Lambert writes that the book is about a spirited child, her mother, Cecilia, fondly called “Celie,” captured during the 1940s and 1950s. “Under the Tablecloth of Table Mountain is a memoir that breathes life into the vibrant heart of Cape Town’s District Six before its destruction under apartheid,” she writes. 

“Told through the eyes of Cecilia “Celie,” a spirited child growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, the book captures the everyday joys, struggles, and resilience of a close-knit community living in the shadow of Table Mountain.

"Each chapter draws the reader deeper into the rhythms of District Six: the smell of fresh bread on the stoep, Friday nights of laughter with family friends, Sunday morning rituals of koeksisters, the dazzling spectacle of the Klopse parades, and the humble yet cherished Christmas hampers," Lambert writes.

Book extract: Chapter one: “In District Six, nobody escaped a nickname. It was almost a rite of passage, a way of being claimed by the community. These names weren’t chosen politely or with much consultation; they were coined with sharp wit and usually stuck harder than the names our mothers so carefully chose. A boy with pale skin would quickly become “Boere,” while the tall and lanky one was forever “Lange."

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