2012-12-03  

The Launch of my debut novel, Under a Swirling Sun, by Adams Booksellers and Reach Publishers  took place on Thursday the 28^{th of November} at the Hall of the Church of S José. It was better than I expected. I am grateful to Cedric Sessing for the great amount of extra work he endured to enable this launch to still take place before Christmas. With so many book launches only in this week, to get some 50 people and sell about 30 copies  was indeed gratifying. I received apologies - for not being able to participate -from here to Singapore, including  Portugal and Germany.

   The reviews were quite impressive. They were read at the launch  by young writer Daniel Alexander, author of ‘Through the Crimson Mirror’ and founder of the Durban Authors Association – who read not only his review but also the one by well-known artist, writing facilitator, etc., Bernice Stott.

  Elias Sousa, now Consul Honorarium for Portugal, in Durban, at the end voiced his thanks and appreciation for ‘this author’s’ contribution to the community.

   Adams Bookshop has already received requests to launch the book in Cape Town at the beginning of next year, perhaps in February or March, and Cedric Sessing intends to have another launch with interviewing at Musgrave Centre here in Durban.

   Praise the Lord! , is all I can say. Indeed it took me some twenty years to complete this ‘work of art’, which changed from crysallide of many shapes to eventually a wonderful butterfly - so it seems. A story first called ‘Matruska’ became, ‘Camilla’, then ‘Snakes in a Golden Wheatfield’ and then ‘Look at the Sun’. But then ‘it’ changed again- when already with the publishers and became ‘Under a Swirling Sun’.

   This title attracted Bernice and made her write the following in her Review:

‘Under a Swirling Sun’ seeks to draw us, the readers, to a spectacular solar event that took place in 1917. ‘The Lady of the light’ appeared in Portugal and predicted another phenomenon; people in Europe would see a night sky lit up by an extraordinary light. It would be an ominous sign predicting wars and hunger. On the night of the 25^th January 1938 a well-known but rare Aurora Borealis illuminated the northern hemisphere night sky for many hours. In 1939 World War II broke out shortly after this extraordinary rarity. Pursuing the questions of love, truth and freedom, the author reflects on the frequency of synchronicity in her life. She asks us to become listeners “to the soft voice within, deep in one’s heart,” listeners to God and the voice of the authentic self. It is a book about the special events in her life, her struggle to realize the many aspects of her personality symbolized by the “Matruska” doll. The “Matruska” doll metaphor tells the dominant story of her early life in Mozambique where church, home, state, school and conservative society shaped the discourses of ‘how to live’. Although meta-fiction, perhaps the writing of this book has been a definitional ceremony which has provided her with an opportunity to be seen in her own terms, garnering witness to her own worth, vitality and being. A brilliant read as we become the outsider witnesses to ‘Margarida’s  unusual life.

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As to Daniel Alexander this was is review:

Now, what to say about it. What a story… What a story…

As I read it, I am reminded of a quote from the movie ‘V for Vendetta’. I don’t know if anyone else has seen it, but it gives me goose-bumps when I watch it. It’s about freedom and oppression, and many of the things for which we fight in this country, and in our own lives. When the female lead is asked, “Who was he?” in reference to the male lead, she replies, “He was Edmond Dantés... and he was my father. And my mother... my brother... my friend. He was you... and me. He was all of us.” And that is what this book is: many things to many people.

   It touches on philosophy, arts and culture, politics, religion and many more aspects of human existence. It tells the story of someone who is open, honest, kind, understanding and intelligent, and maybe a little ahead of her time. Worlds collide in this brave story by someone caught in-between religion, faith and the practical matters of the ‘real world’.  It takes much courage, firstly to see all this, to realize it, and secondly to write it.    I’m taken back to medieval times when questioning the Church in any way was criminal, which shows much bravery on the authors part.

    A novel indicative of our times and the loneliness and confusion many of us share. A bit whinny at times which just adds to the honesty and reality of the story- like a Picasso painting where pain shows in bright red strokes.

   One person’s person struggle with the human condition: our feelings, how we hide and manipulate and many of the other characteristics that we all share come to life.

   The writing style is informal and easy to read. It’s full of idioms and weird anecdotes, making it an interesting read. It is honest and intelligent. It is intelligent in the fact that it is multi-layered and a multi-dimensional story.

   I started off saying, ‘What a story.’ And what a story indeed. I always battle to figure out what to say when people ask me to speak like this. Love, adultery, betrayal, happiness, acceptance; what a story, is all I can say.

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 I hope one day you can also read this story, dear friends, and have your own opinion, which I would love to hear – don’t worry the friendship will remain!

   One of the things I said at the launch is that this is a fictional story based on memoirs, but I think that the things that, when reading them, people will say, ’Ah! This is fiction!’, are probably the ones that are actually true – like the episode of the ‘white butterflies’ that suddenly flooded the office where the protagonist was sitting looking at her left finger … And by the way, swarms of  white butterflies do appear in Durban, 'out of the blue', just about every twenty years - when they immigrate to the North of Africa. Voila!