12-07-2006, 10:01 AM
Thought this would be of interest, enjoy!
A Quilt of Dreams by Patricia Schonstein
Official Blurb:
Set in Grahamstown, South Africa, during the 1990s, at the height of political unrest and opposition to apartheid, this is the bittersweet story of two people whose lives intertwine without them ever knowing each other - one a heavy-drinking white man and the other the young daughter of a black activist. Reuben Cohen van Tonder's battle with unresolved grief and his search for hidden peace and Vita Marangxa's innocent resolve to remove the bad luck which has troubled her family for generations, climax together in a wondrous resolution of personal and national triumph. This tale captures the harsh and brutal realities of South Africa's past with its raw and sore racism, interlacing them with enchantment, tenderness, forgiveness and hope.
Reader Review:
Patricia Schonstein is a wonderfully readable author - not for her the difficult prose and philosophical abstractions of some of our other South African writers. You will be inexorably drawn into the lives of her remarkable characters and live, love, suffer and finally find resolution with them. You will love this book, a book that recalls our turbulent past, without being preachy or judgmental. Schonstein weaves a compelling story about people who become real and important to us, as do their sometimes achingly familiar lives. (Kate Turkington, 702 Talk Radio)
http://www.afsun.co.za/ (news about her)
A Quilt of Dreams by Patricia Schonstein
Official Blurb:
Set in Grahamstown, South Africa, during the 1990s, at the height of political unrest and opposition to apartheid, this is the bittersweet story of two people whose lives intertwine without them ever knowing each other - one a heavy-drinking white man and the other the young daughter of a black activist. Reuben Cohen van Tonder's battle with unresolved grief and his search for hidden peace and Vita Marangxa's innocent resolve to remove the bad luck which has troubled her family for generations, climax together in a wondrous resolution of personal and national triumph. This tale captures the harsh and brutal realities of South Africa's past with its raw and sore racism, interlacing them with enchantment, tenderness, forgiveness and hope.
Reader Review:
Patricia Schonstein is a wonderfully readable author - not for her the difficult prose and philosophical abstractions of some of our other South African writers. You will be inexorably drawn into the lives of her remarkable characters and live, love, suffer and finally find resolution with them. You will love this book, a book that recalls our turbulent past, without being preachy or judgmental. Schonstein weaves a compelling story about people who become real and important to us, as do their sometimes achingly familiar lives. (Kate Turkington, 702 Talk Radio)
http://www.afsun.co.za/ (news about her)