Philida. By André Brink. Harvill Secker; 310 pages; £14.99 . ANDRÉ BRINK'S "Philida," which has been longlisted for the Man Booker prize, is set in 1832 in South Africa's Cape Colony, as the pillars of colonialism and slavery crumble. Slaves and owners alike are on edge, aware of the fact that everything familiar is on the verge of change. Philida is a slave on Zandvliet, a wine estate. Years before the story begins, she is promised her freedom in exchange for sex with Frans Brink, the son of her master, Cornelis. Their romance is lopsided, but streaked with affection, and she has borne him four children. But Frans reneges on his promise, forcing Philida to trek to Stellenbosch to launch a complaint with the slave protector - a new official installed by the British. Denied her claim, Philida is tossed back to her life at Zandvliet. The advent of the slaves" freedom thrums insistently throughout the novel. For Cornelis, it is a bewildering threat. In his slaves" eyes he sees a warning: "our turn is coming." He and his kind will be carried away, cast out, "into nothingness, until no speck or smudge" remains. It is the end of his existence as he knows it, for "what is a baas ["master" in Afrikaans] without a slave?" For Philida, the hope of freedom has been hovering for years, scenting her days with its promise, "a heavy smell that could make you drunk and lightheaded, a smell like young wine." In the hands of Mr Brink, one of South Africa's most famous novelists, the land breathes; it feels alive. Zandvliet is surrounded by mountains that stretch off into the distance, " blue and pale blue and paler blue, like old bruises getting fainter on your body." Above hang stars, low in the night sky, so close Philida can smell them, "clean, like new washing," fragrant like nutmeg and bruised grass. In his 2009 memoir, "A Fork in the Road," Mr Brink wrote of his complicated relationship with South Africa. But here his earthy love for his homeland is apparent. Books about slaves, especially the female kind, risk straying into worthiness and sentimentality. Mr Brink steers well clear. Philida is bawdy and brave. She is pragmatic but sure in her faith that a new day is coming. When that time comes, it will be blue, blue as all other days are blue, and yet, it will be completely different. Mr Brink, an Afrikaner, is perhaps best known for his anti-apartheid novels, such as "A Dry White Season" and "Rumours of Rain," which was shortlisted for the Man Booker. This is not the first time he has written about South Africa's more distant history. In fact characters from "A Chain of Voices," a novel about a slave uprising in 1825, flit into the pages of his most recent work. "Philida," too, is based on fact. The woman existed. Cornelis was the brother of one of the author's ancestors. Zandvliet is a wine estate, though under another name. They are characters of long ago and far away. But such ghosts forever loom, and Mr Brink pulls them close.