This Life

This life is a beautifully written, evocative account of the life of a woman who lived in the Roggeveld in the latter part of the nineteenth century. On her deathbed she recalls a life of isolation and loneliness, her role that of a witness. Witness to the events in her family - the effect of her mother's increasingly overbearing behaviour; the relationship between her two brothers and the young woman they both loved. The woman's hesitant, faltering reminiscing is an attempt to understand the various injustices suffered and to unravel the secrets behind the events which led to the death of one of her brothers. The novel is a delicate and subtle web of emotions, a narrative of almost hypnotic power which draws the reader into "this life".