Books

ASLEEP AWAKE ASLEEP

BY JO-ANN BEKKER

Jo-Ann Bekker was a courageous, award-winning journalist during apartheid, and she brings the same skills that made her so successful back then to this extraordinary collection of short stories: acute observation, honesty and the ability to build an important story from a seemingly tiny detail.

The 39 stories in this book are linked, but the links aren’t always obvious or even evident while you’re reading them. They vary considerably in length – some are no more than a long paragraph – which can be a little disconcerting in terms of rhythm. But they are powerful, and somewhere in your subconscious the stories start forming an uneasy picture of the