The Silence of the Shadows

Five very different women... Cape Town is home to each one of them. Surrounded by its mountains and seas, but also by the struggles and difficulties of a young post-transformation country, each one lives out her separate life. Then fate begins to intertwine their lives through a series of circumstances...Faith, who has taken on a job as part-time receptionist in Bethany’s practice, is physically abused by her manipulative and controlling husband. Between Bethany and Rafiqah, the detective who investigates her case, they manage to persuade her to prosecute him and this involves the legal help of Lindiwe, the public prosecutor. But Lindiwe’s nightmare past means that her involvement in cases of abuse can never be totally objective. Ayesha, who teaches Bethany’s young daughter notices subtle changes in the little girl’s behaviour and, together with Faith, makes a shocking discovery.The Silence of the Shadows is a novel about the strength and frailty in each of us, the recognition that at different times we can be either the helper or the helped and that it is totally acceptable to be both.