Search results for ""Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd""

The Universal Life Cycle (ULC)—the process whereby leaders can identify levels of consciousness and help find harmony and balance, both as individuals and within a corporate or societal setting—is explained in this book. Taking a psychological view, William de Liefde's theory accounts for different types of personalities, and how best to get those personalities to be productive in an organization. Demonstrating how the ULC can assist companies by giving valuable insights into the ability of members of the collective to work together, this account shows how compassion and forgiveness amongst leaders invariably brings both financial success and wisdom.

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Storyteller-in-chief, Nthikeng Mohlele, spins another glorious tale: a former high-flying politician who now sleeps under a bridge in Johannesburg's city centre and washes dishes to survive.

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Since independence, African countries have been confronted with the relics of colonial powers and, in southern Africa, white minority regimes.

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People always ask me when I'm bringing out a cookbook. It's kind of what you do when you're a chef: Work crazy hours, build a reputation, bring out a cookbook, buy an island and retire. So here it is. My first cookbook. It might not be the cookbook you're expecting, but it tells snatches of the story of my culinary journey. There are some classic Overture recipes in these pages. It also has some recipes that have travelled everywhere with me, from kitchen to kitchen, in my career. Here and there are dishes that made me want to be a chef. Mostly, though, this book is about memories. Cooking for me is as much about memory as it is about the plate of food. For me, recipes are a sort of map of where I come from, what I've been doing or experiencing. My fine dining recipes and the stuff I cook at home draw on the personal and cultural memories of an Afrikaans kid who didn't eat his vegetables. It's also about how I continue to make food memories all the time, immersing myself in the cultural diversity of South African cuisine. Homegrown is about how my Ma's melk tert recipe inspired one of the most popular desserts at Overture.It makes the connection between fishing with my dad when I was a kid, and how I respect and work with seafood today. It looks at how the new trend of live fire cooking is old hat in the shisanyamas of working-class South Africans and what they can teach the world about flavour. Those flavours, smells and memories of growing up in South Africa make me the cook I am. They make me Homegrown.

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This book makes visible undocumented everyday experiences that shaped the lives of ordinary South Africans during the country's brutal and painful past. It is a record of things that "sit" within all of us. By sharing their memories, the storytellers map the scope of the wider, and difficult, conversation about the meaning of justice and the missing parts of the discourse of reconciliation in South Africa. It creates a space for a conversation about South Africa's history and what it means to talk to and to hear the other within the context of this history. In publishing each story in Xhosa, Afrikaans and English, we hope that the book will stimulate conversation among South Africans across languages. We hope that it will enable South Africans to connect with one another in a manner that seeks mutual understanding about the complicated aspects of our shared history and its continuing impact on the lives of individuals and communities. It is for this reason that we have compiled the collection of stories in this book. Stories - people narrating their memories of life under apartheid - can help introduce an alternative understanding of the painful aspects of their traumatic pasts. Twenty years after the TRC, this book is testament to our understanding that justice and reconciliation is not merely an event or a legal process but an on-going process that requires people to talk publicly about the effects of colonialism and apartheid on South Africans, and the need to listen to one another's stories. The book gives publicity to undocumented everyday experiences that shaped the lives of ordinary South Africans during this country's brutal and painful past. As such, it is an effort to depict a conversation about the meaning of transformation. We hope that by sharing their memories in this book, the storytellers will contribute towards a deeper understanding of the suffering that underpins this country and shapes our contemporary dispensation.

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The issue of land rights is an ongoing and complex topic of debate for South Africans. Rights to Land comes at a time when land redistribution by the government is underway. This book seeks to understand the issues around land rights and distribution of land in South Africa, and proposes that new policies and processes should be developed and adopted. It further provides an analysis of what went so wrong, and warns that a new phase of restitution may ignite conflicting ethnic claims and facilitate elite capture of land and rural resources. Rights to Land is published in partnership with Good Governance Africa (GGA).

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This Is How It Is is a ""refreshing, poignant and wide-ranging"" (Helen Moffett) collection of real life experiences: 52 stories, prose, and poetry. Some of the writers are grieving the loss of a child or struggling with addiction, abuse, or betrayal. Most of these writers have never been published before. They wrote these stories primarily to bear witness to their lives and the troubled times in which we live. Our world is in trouble; we are not paying attention to what is right in front of us. When the facts don't stir us to reconsider, story can. This anthology encourages us to climb down from the ladder of hierarchy and competition and to join the circle of relationship and humanity by becoming vulnerable enough to share and listen to each other's half-hidden stories.

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This book discusses the challenge of pursuing justice and reconciliation in the Great Lakes region, one of the most politically volatile regions in Africa, with a specific focus on Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The experiences of these countries is assessed through the prism of 'the politics of transitional justice', and how it has either assisted or hampered the effectiveness of efforts to deal with the atrocities of the past. The book suggests that the failure of past interventions is due to the inability to collectively engage the violations in the individual countries which in effect form part of an inter-state regional conflict system.

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Bubbly fine arts graduate Gené is desperate to get into the film industry. She moves to Cape Town and works as a photographer for a tabloid magazine. Gené starts moonlighting on film sets and finds herself on an Indian paint commercial where a big Bollywood producer offers her a six-month stint in his company in Mumbai. Unable to resist the lure and glamour of working in film and traveling the world business class, she leaps at the opportunity and soon finds herself on a plane headed for India. But there is no free curry in Mumbai. On arrival she realizes she is expected to sleep with the producer, and slips into an uneasy, culturally challenging role as his new firangi girlfriend. The producer soon insists on transforming Gené into a size-6 blonde who he can show off on the red carpet. He puts her on a grueling diet and stringent exercise regime. Once a teenage anorexic, this pushes all her deepest buttons of insecurity around her fraught body issues. Even though he is twice her age, overweight, and often rude, she becomes obsessed with him, and is soon convinced that he is cheating on her. She goes on an all-out mission to make him love her. When it becomes clear the producer no longer wants her, she manipulates her way into turning her six-month work stint into a six-year epic stay. In her first year there, she works on 96 commercials and gets drawn into the rich cultural textures of India, experiencing India in a way rarely written about. With access to the who's who in Bollywood, she rubs shoulders with India's most famous glitterati, including the great Bly Avibath, India's most famous actor. Gené also becomes close to Bollywood's top director, Kiran, and they dream about making the film of her life, together. After a traumatic night with the producer in a London hotel, she realizes it's time to leave India and come home. Although she continues to return to Bollywood over the next few years to do films with her hero Bly Avibath, who insists that she work with him, the producer now has little hold over her. On the last film that Gené does with Bly she tells him about her dream to tell her story. He surprises her by buying her a MacBook Pro, which she ends up using to write this book.

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Your Stars: What to Expect in 2018 is a fresh and vibrant astrological “year ahead” book with a distinctively local flavour. Written by highly respected astrologist Rod Suskin, the book provides a monthly look ahead for each of the 12 signs of the zodiac with a general overview of the themes of the month, as well as a specific in-depth look at what’s happening on the personal and professional front. The predictions focus on helping the reader understand the main issues monthly in 2018 while providing a strategy to be conscious of pitfalls and guidance towards a more favourable outcome. Your Stars targets a wide, cross-gender audience as it not only probes the usual relationship-focused sun signs, but also includes political and social forecasts, as well as looking at the performance of various national sports teams during 2018. For those who may be sceptical about astrology, Rod Suskin includes a compelling introduction as a way to understand how and why this science works that will appeal and make sense to the twenty-first century reader.

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In In Love & Intimate, Jerry Mofokeng-wa Makhetha takes you into his marriage and shows you how he and his wife have dealt with issues in their marriage as well as how to have a long successful relationship. It is a manual of how you transition from a young newly wedded couple to a couple that has grown, studied, worked, and ministered together. It further explores how couples work and exist independently of each other but can also form also a perfect team. Jerry and his wife have spoken on and facilitated workshops and seminars on love, courtship, and marriage from as early as the 1980s.

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An anthology of poems, short stories, and personal essays, this collection embodies the meaning of sisterhood: relationships in which girls and women give and receive friendship, love, and support. Embracing this theme, the contributors of this compilation define what sisterhood means for them through the voices found in these pieces. Inspiring and heartfelt, this book presents cathartic, moving personal accounts of abuse through creative writing.

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This article discusses the development and agreement of the African Women's Protocol, adopted by African Heads of State in 2003. The authors consider the experience of Oxfam GB in supporting the development and ratification of the Protocol. They make particular reference to the southern African countries of Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia

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It can generally be assumed that there are two reasons for people to have sex - to have children and to have fun. This title looks at the fun aspects. In Africa, a lot is known about the sexual and reproductive health aspects of sexulity through large-scale surveys, including the World Fertlity surveys and demographic and health surveys. Furthermore, anthropologists have largely documented the exotic rites de passage and marriage in traditional societies while popular media has, in recent years, made signigifcant inroads in breaking the silence surrounding sexuality. Yet, mcuh remains to be discovered regarding the positive and non-heterosexual expressions of sexuality in Africa. The papers presented in this title are charaterised by a wide-ranging view and tone that is often speculative and best viewed as a provocative introduction to an important field of enquiry, rather han as a state-of-the-art assessment of sexuality in Africa. It is hoped that the chapters will stimulate further thought and research, especially since most make no pretence of offering the final word on the topics they discuss.

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A title by a South African artist that deals with the ties that bind and divide families. Kitchen casualties traces the lives of four generations of women, and the effect that a terrible secret has on them, their development and their relationships with one another and their children. The story unfolds as the main character prepares for her daughter's farewell party. The imminent departure to Scothland of her only child, prompts her to bring a legacy of personal abuse to closure. The action takes place during the course of a day, with numerous flashbacks to the past. It is through these flashbacks and memories that the stories unfold against the backdrop of the kitchen - the heart of the home - where the fragrant smells of home-cooked meals often provide a perfect smokescreen for abuse and denial. Kitchen casualties explores the effects of sexual abuse through the generations within a rich tapestry that is framed by the mists and natural beauty of the Cape coastline and coloured with a richness and texture of experience, interwoven with truth and lies, language and fantasy.

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Neil Roake's love of good food has brought him happy friends and a skewer-full of awards, including Best Barbeque and Outdoor Cookbook in the World at the international Gourmand Awards for Life's A Beach Cottage. Now he's put his money where his mouth is and opened Freedom Cafe at Concierge Boutique Bungalows in Durban. As Glynis Horning writes in the Forward, 'Only a few of us have the energy and sheer bloody nerve to break loose and risk what we have to be fully and freely ourselves.' Neil is one. You can taste the Freedom in these vibrant pages of food from the Cafe - a celebration of his mantra, 'local, fresh, direct.' His recipes and the colourful tales behind them are sensationally illustrated with photographs by Tony Christie, and artwork from his Modern Museum design studio.

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A brief yet lively introduction to antiapartheid activist Steve Biko, this biography argues that Biko was the most important political figure to have emerged in South Africa between Nelson Mandela's arrest in the early 1960s and his release in 1990. Written by some of the leading experts in their fields, this informative and accessible volume demonstrates just how fundamental Biko was to the transformation of South Africa in the second half of the 20th century—and how relevant he remains today. The book covers his life and thought, his influence and his legacy, as well as the impact Biko had on the Black Power movement.

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Morbid yet gripping, this work tells a tale seldom recounted in the new South Africa: the effects of supporting apartheid on the white population. Exploring the gulf between how we perceive ourselves versus how others view us, this narrative follows Angus Smith, who is gradually revealed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychotic and unreliable, Angus transitions from a terminally disaffected husband to a perversely inspired engineer of his own fate. A bitter and disturbing but compulsively readable book, it raises unsettling questions about a socially fractured society.

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In the Dark with My Dress on Fire is the remarkable life story of Blanche La Guma, a South African woman who dedicated her life to ending apartheid through her various roles as professional nurse, wife and mother, and underground Communist activist. Born into a poor, working-class coloured family in Cape Town, Blanche met her future husband, the novelist Alex La Guma, while training as a nurse-midwife in the early 1950s. Together they fought apartheid at great personal risk before continuing the struggle in exile in London and Havana, Cuba. Harassed, banned, and imprisoned in solitary confinement for her political convictions, Blanche worked as a nurse-midwife in poor black communities on the Cape Flats. With Alex constantly detained or under house arrest, she was the family's only breadwinner, a role she would continue throughout their life together. When Blanche was not working, visiting her husband in prison, or protecting their two young sons Eugene and Barto from harassment by the security police, she met secretly at night with fellow anti-apartheid Communists. As a young nurse she led the fight against "nursing apartheid" in Cape Town and she provided safe houses for anti-apartheid leaders such as Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki. Forced into exile with her family in 1966, Blanche continued her struggle for justice in London, advocating for better maternal care in a large urban hospital and managing a Soviet Union publications office. When Alex was called to Havana, Cuba, in 1978 as chief representative of the African National Congress (ANC) in the Caribbean, she joined him as a full partner, which included their mentoring of ANC students sent to Cuba after the 1976 Soweto Uprising. Her story provides a rare first-hand account of life as a South African in Fidel Castro's Cuba until Alex's death by heart attack in 1985. Told vividly, passionately, and at times humorously, In the Dark with My Dress on Fire is a compelling account of Blanche La Guma's struggle against apartheid on three continents. It's the story of a courageous woman who paid dearly for her commitments yet returned with dignity to a free and democratic South Africa.

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Falling madly in love, even when you know that by loving you risk all you have...it could happen to anyone. The Au Pair bravely goes where no other book has gone, and tells the story which so many women have experienced, with complete honesty. There is no other lesbian account that addresses the issues faced in the title as directly, and as openly. Furthermore, it is a tale that everyone who has encountered similar circumstances will be able to identify with, and benefit from. Whether it is a mother, whose daughter reveals herself to be gay, or a young woman, trying to come to terms with her sexuality. The Au Pair is a true story of a British wife and mother of three whose life is turned upside down when she meets and falls in love with her pretty and much younger Afrikaans au pair. In essence this is an unconventional love story, a candid memoir of how two women found each other at an inopportune time of their lives. How they overcame and faced reactions of their relationship from their families and friends; and ultimately dealing with their own guilt. Written as it happened, one can feel the urgency and passion woven intricately through the pages of this jaw-dropping and at times humorous memoir.

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Part tourist guide, part monograph, this book journeys through South Africa’s amazing wildlife reserves. Indicating what types of animals to find and in which provinces to find them, this record not only contains stunning pictures and pertinent, detailed information but also teaches wildlife enthusiasts how to capture South Africa’s beauty on camera. The first of a three part series that will include Namibia and Botswana, it is sure to interest tourists and professional and amateur photographers alike.

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An insightful look into South Africa in the 1930s and 1940s, this novel tells an unlikely love story. When Sofie goes to work for Big Dan—a forester whose wife is terminally ill—she takes care of his neglected children and gains an education while helping them with their homework. After the lady of the house passes away, Big Dan finds himself increasingly drawn to Sofie and her tender yet straightforward ways. Eventually, the two fall in love and marry. Despite her simple background, Sofie manages to draw a deeply complicated family together with wisdom and understanding beyond her upbringing. As Sophie tackles the prejudices of her fellow villagers with veracity and brutal honesty, this tale demonstrates that grace and wisdom are the products of character and not social standing.

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Thandi's parents have died of AIDS, and she must go to live with her Gogo. Memories of her family are woven throughout the making of a special doll - a doll made from a few oddly shaped rags, but who shows Thandi how to find comfort and hope.

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Reviewing the 16 years since the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) was set up as a remedy to apartheid, this analysis looks at the most controversial mission of the organization—the creation of black-owned corporations. Drawing on case studies, both in South Africa and internationally, the report finds many negative consequences that bring into question BEE's ownership in its current form. It shows how inadvertently organizers over the years have encouraged the kind of trading and deal-making that leads to opportunistic, unproductive investment and explores how BEE is also seen as a convenient cover to legitimize political patronage and corruption in the allocation of state resources. As a final note, however, the discussion praises new ventures that are professionally run and seek both financial return and social impact.

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Capturing the continent's people, fauna, and landscapes in myriad, indelible ways, this collection of inspiring images from Getaway magazine's 20-year archive journeys near and far into the heart of Africa. With stunning images of camel rides across the Sahara, gorillas in Rwanda, and microlight flights over Victoria Falls, these diverse photos represent iconic travel destinations and landmarks while painting a unique portrait of African identity.

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An investigation within an investigation, this richly imagined tale follows an organ recipient, Guy Hawthorne, and the person who performed his heart transplant. The mystery opens with an unexplained violent death and a video tape left with the body, leading to a story of modern medicine and the psychological twists that lie at the heart of celebrity and obsession. Infused with the halfway modern spirit of South Africa in the 1960s, this poetic and haunting thriller captures the tensions of the times, weaving together fiction and fact in a gripping storyline.

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A revealing personal journal, this life story of Lorna Levy follows her from being shaken out of a privileged white upbringing in 1950s South Africa and awakening to the inequity around her amid radical political movements to her exile in England and eventual return to Cape Town. This chronicle shows insights into the struggle to free South Africa from apartheid and reveals how that struggle manifested itself through individuals exiled outside of the country. Searching for an identity and place in a foreign culture while working for decades towards improvements at home, this narrative shows a life stripped of all the myths and explores the complex situation and emotions of returning home.

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In the early 1860s, Gustav Fritsch, a 25-year-old German medical doctor and anthropologist, travelled through southern Africa on a scientific expedition to study the 'native races', making great use of the new medium of photography. Fritsch's portraits of southern African people are extraordinary images, bringing to life a whole gallery of both known and unknown figures with astonishing veracity. Retrieved from archives in Germany and reproduced here in their entirety for the first time, these photographs can now be reclaimed as part of our common cultural heritage. They are accompanied by several essays that describe Fritsch's journey and scientific project and set them in the context of his racial theories and life's work.

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Outlining key social and economic realities that confront South Africa's new government, this collection of 11 essays by top economic and political analysts debates the problems facing newly elected socialist-leaning president Jacob Zuma. Politically, the widespread world recession has South Africans on both the left and the right calling for change in the economy, and these articles offer 70 key recommendations for bolstering the country's business climate. Controversial issues include interest rates, labor markets, the breakaway COPE party, and how far to the Left a Zuma government can swing, given the economic constraints on their options.

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A fictional account of a Jewish family’s journey from Nazi Germany to post–World War II South Africa, this breathtaking novel follows their everyday struggles living in Johannesburg in the 1950s. Through the voices of Hannah, the daughter of the house, her mother Susan, grandmother Leah, and domestic worker Sina, the story explores the cultural and generational parallels and differences and the unraveling of a family. The stories of Leah in the shtetl in Lithuania, Sina in her village outside Pietersburg, and Hannah in a quiet Johannesburg suburb are told in a compassionate narrative that is both disturbing and illuminating.

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In this new story, we find Gaps in the midst of frantic, colourful wedding preparations. His big sister is about to get married. Now Gaps faces another problem: Father Nguni Bull has given him a brand new pair of trousers to wear to the wedding, but they are much too long! Gaps asks every cow in his family to shorten the trousers, but they are all too busy preparing for the wedding. Gaps gives up and goes to bed, leaving his trousers lying in the kitchen. Very early the next morning, as the cows enter the kitchen, they see the neglected trousers...and each in turn shortens them, with hilarious results. But Gaps comes out tops yet again!

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The Little Explorers series takes children on a journey to teach them more about the world around them. Each title is beautifully illustrated and easy for children to read themselves. Approved by the National Department of Education as a Foundation Phase reader for Grades 1, 2 and 3. Shapes are Everywhere shows children how to find different shapes in the beautiful world around us. What are You Doing? introduces children to the many different ways that children can find the written word. Stop, Look and Listen shows children essential elements of road safety while dodging wild animals in a national park. It's Time! takes us through all the things that happen in a normal day. Oh No! is the story of poor Dangoes, who has many things to do but falls ill and can't do them. She gets better, but then it starts to rain! Lele Dreams takes the reader on a fantastical journey to the clouds and the sea.

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A collection of recent cartoons, these scathing and hilarious depictions document 2007 as an eventful year of political folly in South Africa. With a special eye for the ridiculous, this commentary provides opportunity to laugh at the often bizarre antics of political figures, and the sharp, unique wit makes for both an entertaining and intellectually stimulating read.

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Meanwhile don't push and squeeze is an account of the year that writer spent teaching at a university in Hangzhou, China. Filled with puzzlement and discovery, it is enriched by the writings of Berold's enthusiastic students and those of his articulate companion. Berold's passion for literature soon takes him well beyond limits of his contract as a 'foreign expert'. This is a wide-ranging and at times very funny title, filled with fresh, startling images of 21st Century China. Robert Berold spent a year teaching creative writing in China, and this is his poetic and delightful record of that year.

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A series of lively, colourful stories from South Africa's most famous township - snapshots of life and the characters that inhabit the area.

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Call on the Wind tells the story of Isaak and Liesa, young people growing up in a small Griqua fishing village on the Tsitsikamma coast. Isaak and Liesa struggle with their life choices and their love for one another. Does Isaak leave the villiage and become a musician, or does he feel too responsible for the livelihood of the village? Can Liesa acknowledge her true feelings for Isaak? The backdrop to their story is that of the fate of their community, and their struggle for survival. Together with its historical truth, the characters of the community and the flavour of their interactions, this novel carries an authentic and uniquely South African ring to it. David Donald has woven an exciting story of tragedy and bravery, of action and poignancy, and ultimately one of a strong spirit of resilience. David Donald is an Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology of the University of Cape Town.

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As part of the ongoing and necessary effort to create a UN that is truly representative of all its members, this title attempts to present the African perspective far more clearly and persuasively than has previously been the case. The argument in the title can be summed up in this excerpt: "Africa and the West have engaged in a "dialogue of the deaf " at the UN and other international forums since the continent's "lost decade" of the 1980s. The dialogue runs as follows: Africans call for an annulment of what they see as an unpayable external debt of $290 billion and note that they have paid back $550 billion out of an initial debt of $540 billion between 1970 and 2002; the West continues to roll over the debt and offers periodic "debt relief" for an ailing African patient. Africans call for the West to meet aid targets of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP) set as far back as 1970; the West responds by continuing to maintain average annual aid levels of about 0.3 per cent and to make persistent unmet promises to reach the target of 0.7 per cent. Finally, Africans call on the rich world to live up to its free trade principles by eliminating agricultural subsidies that prevent the continent from growing out of poverty; the West continues to maintain subsidies of over $311 billion that by 2001 had surpassed the entire economic strength of sub-Saharan Africa." This title is a contribution to African efforts to engage the UN to achieve these noble goals.

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Individuals and corporations increasingly own our world. New property rights now enable the private possession of life and ideas, driven by the profit motive. Genetically engineered crops, patented computer programmes, harvesting of human cells, and the exploitation of biodiversity, molecules and atoms for private profit are just some of the issues examined in this title, making it an essential read for anybody who has wondered, "What does this mean for me?" This collection of essays analyses this steady erosion of our human rights and destiny. Among the many examples illustrated in A patented world? are - An American company owns the patents on two breast cancer genes and for the next 20 years it can exclude any, but its own researchers, from testing or using the genes in search of a genetic cure for breast cancer. The company can set whatever price it chooses for the exclusive right to test for the presence of these genes. The present price of sending a tissue sample to its laboratory is US$2760. Another is the case of a Mr Moore in America who went to court to secure the property right to cells from his own spleen. He lost the case and doctors created a billion-dollar cell line from his "naturally occurring raw material".

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A professor contemplates the ruin of his life while delivering a passionate final lecture; a city girl suffers an unaccountably cruel twist of fate in a stranger's apartment; a rising executive flies blindly toward his past; and, darkly fleeting, a young boy haunts the lives of all who cross his path. In The new Suffolk hymnbook, it is the district of Suffolk that binds them together.

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Ngorongoro is, without doubt, one of the world's truly amazing places. It has been called the "8th Wonder of the World", and in 1979 was designated a World Heritage Site. At 20km across, and over 600m deep, it is the largest unbroken, unflooded crater on the planet. Adjacent to the Ngorongoro Crater is the other equally spectacular volcanic scenery such as Embakaai, Olmoti and the frequently erupting Maasai "Mountain of God", Oldonyo Lengai. And yet, despite its dramatic and violent past, Ngorongoro Crater and the surrounding Ngorongoro Conservation Area (the NCA), play host to an incredible concentration of wildlife. But this wildlife extravaganza has also been home to humans for millions of years. At Oldupai Gorge have been found some of the oldest humanoid remains ever discovered. Over thousands of years, different people have come and gone, and today, over 40 000 Maasai and their herds still live and follow their traditional way of life, within the NCA.

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When Mia was a child, she told Asher that the dreamcloth took away her nightmares. This is a stirring work of great tenderness and courage. It is 1994 when Mia finally returns home, ambivalent, afraid of what she will find. A strong-willed journalist embroiled for the last decade in ravaged conflict zones; she arrives in Johannesburg to confront the secrets that have plagued her family for three generations. And, hidden in her bra, close to her heart, is the dreamcloth. When Mia finally retrieved the small patchwork cloth of beads and lace from Asher, the man she blames for her father's death a decade ago, she unwittingly regained the only clue to an expansive tale of lost love and anguish. The cloth, woven in the 1920s by a seamstress in a grim shtetl in Lithuania, veils the mystery of a forbidden love affair of Mia's paternal grandmother, Maya, as she fled anti-Semitic Europe and will lead Mia to a shattering truth. In Mia's search to reconnect with the places and people she left behind, she journeys through her childhood, through her relationships with her beloved father, Issey, her nanny, Sarafina, and best friend, Grace. But, the first person she will have to face is her distant mother, Fran obsessed with the roses in her perfectly manicured, northern suburbs garden. Mia comes to terms with what has passed and been lost, she must decide: will she, like her nomadic ancestors, be a gypsy forever, or will she stay in South Africa? This is a sprawling and controversial epic that weaves together the present, past and distant past.

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