A Woman in a Man's World
()
About this ebook
This is the amazing autobiography of a South African woman who grew up between the tumultuous events of two world wars. The epic story of a young woman who, finding herself alone with her two small children after the tragic death of her husband, sets out on a voyage into the unknown. A journey that will take her from the dizzy heights of entrepreneurial success in a male dominated world to life’s devastating blows that that lurk unseen in her future.
On a human level which readily commands empathy, the author describes the growing pains, triumphs and tribulations of her formative and later years.
Born into an upper middle class bilingual Afrikaans family, Clem’s mother holds austere pre-Victorian values and actively cultivates an aura of Calvinistic Puritanism. Relationships with boys are taboo. Her father, a veteran of the Anglo-Boer War, is a gentler, loving parent who Clem adores. Both parents encourage her to take an active role in the world of music and poetry, a factor, ironically, which will lead to Clem’s marriage to Sydney; also to a lifelong love affair with music.
After falling in love with a dashing young fighter pilot, Clem’s first serious romance is shattered by the chance discovery that her beau has secretly become engaged to another girl. Stunned, Clem withdraws into herself.
Having previously relinquished a hard earned high school scholarship to support her family after the economic devastation of the Great Recession, Clem is now more than ever motivated to succeed. She throws herself into her studies, working days to support her family, attending classes at night.
Then, after an unexpected and fleeting romance with Sydney, Clem agrees to marry him on her eighteenth birthday, just weeks before his return to war in the western desert.
On Syd’s homecoming more than two years later the couple discovers that they have become strangers. Electing to “head north” to seek better fortune in Rhodesia (current day Zimbabwe), they emigrate with their baby daughter. Just when all seems to be going well at last, Syd, aged just 39, unexpectedly suffers a fatal heart attack, leaving Clem alone with their daughter and six month old son.
Although utterly shattered, Clem refuses to stay on the mat. She is determined to make a better lifestyle for herself and her children. Notwithstanding a disastrous second marriage to a man who failed to disclose a sexual preference for his own gender, Clem finds her feet in the complex and sometimes murky world of commerce.
In spite of seemingly insuperable odds in a domain in which she is told by male peers that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, Clem clears all the hurdles: Not the least of which an attempt to bring her to her knees by a contemporary industry giant. Going on to forge a small empire from her newly founded garage, car hire and tour business, Clem becomes the first female Fellow of the Institute of Directors.
Life, of course, is never simple. In spite of Clem’s boardroom prowess and eventual marital bliss to one of South Africa’s former wartime fighter aces -with whom she carves out of the bush one of the most beautiful small estates in southern Africa- a new war raises its ugly head. The surge of nationalism with communist backed terrorists finds Clem along with many others living in continual fear of attack, a revolver strapped almost permanently to her waist.
This is the story of a woman’s courage and determination against the odds. A tale of tragedy and triumph: of laughter and humour, danger and disaster; of decades of community service and the narrow survival of a nursing home for the aged; of deadly snakes adroitly dispatched with the author’s shotgun; of beloved people and animals that come and go, leaving inconsolable voids in their wake.
It’s a story of an attack by armed thugs in which, though severely pistol whipped and injured, Clem escapes death by feigning it.
And then there is the “night of the elephants”.
Related to A Woman in a Man's World
Related ebooks
Pandemonium Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAngel of Mercy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFanning the Flames: Flaming Rogues, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMonologues and Duologues from the Plays of Ruth Wolff Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScholar: An Immortals of Indriell Series Companion: Immortals of Indriell Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Still Standing: From Debutante to Detox Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyally in Love: Royally in Love, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEbony and Ivory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInsurrection Resurrection: A Novel of Political and Religious Satire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDarlings of Paranormal Romance Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Blue Sky Orphan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEchoing Time: Book I of the Woohox Chronicles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMichael, Brother Of Jerry: “To be able to forget means sanity.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCosmic Thunder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Fate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twell and the Army of Powers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFatal Journeys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuspending Reality (8 Fantasy Stories) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Corn, Cows, and the Apocalypse (Book 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Redemption Zone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrough Time: Whiplash Book Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shattered Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSylvia's Marriage: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFifth a Fury: Goddess Isles, #5 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deadly Beasts Book 5: Little Princess Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThicker than Blood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Michael, Brother of Jerry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasm: The Gateway Trilogy, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDefying Boundaries: DreamCatcher MC, #10 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biography & Memoir For You
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Taste: My Life Through Food Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher Reading Order: The Complete Lee Child’s Reading List Of Jack Reacher Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Rediscovered Books): A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World's Most Beloved Neighbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for A Woman in a Man's World
0 ratings0 reviews