Echoes of Slavery: Voices from our Past is a collection of true stories, each chosen to illuminate a particular facet of Cape slavery in its mature form. The book concentrates on the final 30 years of slavery in order to place the least distance between Cape slaves and their modern descendants. For example, Chrisje of the Cape's horror at the prospect of having her hair cut as a punishment in 1831 is easier to comprehend than the probable state Valentijn of Madagascar's mind when he was sold for 80 wagonloads of firewood in 1689.;Most of these sketches have previously appeared as weekly columns in the Cape Argus under the banner 'The Way We Were', which looked at the history of Cape Town's previously marginalised under classes. The author, Jackie Loos, gleaned much of the information from previously untapped primary and secondary sources in the Cape Town Archives Repository and the National Library of South Africa. Jackie Loos joined the Special Collections Department of the South African Library in 1990 and worked with author Karel Schoeman until 1998.;Since then she has been a freelance researcher and written more than 200 illustrated articles for the Cape Argus. She is well known by many local historians. This year, 2004 has been announced as the Unesco Year of the Slave. This book doesn't only remind many South Africans of their interesting past, but also serves as a unique bedside read.