This book definitely has its dark side but Herrington – who writes in
the present tense almost like stage/film directions – steers the story firmly
and descriptively to its sad end. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Dark Night of the Soul subtitled Journey to Redemption is the final
volume in Durban author Neville Herrington’s Brigid O’Meara Trilogy. One would
need to have read the two previous volumes to be able to appreciate this one
fully but it does stand alone.
Brigid O’Meara, a passionate young redheaded Irishwoman,
is a music hall dancer/singer. However, she has an inbuilt hatred of the Boers and
has had a troubled life, after being drawn into gun smuggling and later incarcerated
in a concentration camp.
This hatred is an underlying attitude which is
subdued when she becomes happily married to an Englishman who is working on the
Premier Mine (now the Cullinan Diamond Mine)
The story is set in the aftermath of the
Anglo-Boer War and Herrington’s father grew up in Premier Mine and attended the
Cullinan Government School. He passed onto his son many stories about the
mining village and local community.
This knowledge and obvious extensive research
allows Herrington to take the reader back to those times, describing in detail
the places, the people and the history.
Brigid is a kind-hearted soul who is always
helping other people, particularly her friend Elaine who suffers an abusive
relationship with her husband. Brigid gets into trouble when trying to defend Elaine
in court but is forced to lie in response to vital questions thus contributing
to Elaine’s verdict of her husband’s murder.
Later, in attempting to help a woman who had
allegedly made a pact with the Devil, Brigid is consumed by evil as the spirits
transfer to her.
Herrington reports: “Demonic possession is a
complex and controversial subject, and this book does not set out to defend one
or other position but takes its inspiration from a true story involving a
16-year old Zulu girl living in a Catholic mission station on the south coast
of KwaZulu-Natal, who in 1906 made a pact with the Devil.”
Herrington describes the girl’s exhibition of
levitation, swearing and peculiar vocal sounds with much drama and those
sensitive to such descriptions of devilish behaviour may find this disturbing.
He adds that those who do not believe in the possibility and reality of demonic
possession “may require a willing suspension of disbelief”.
However, this experience which resulted from an
attempt to help the young woman, sees Brigid becoming possessed herself and
this alters her life drastically. She leaves her husband and son and takes up
dancing in a nightclub where she encounters the man she has hated for many
years and has vowed to kill him.
This book definitely has its dark side but
Herrington – who writes in the present tense almost like stage/film directions –
steers the story firmly and descriptively to its sad end. - Caroline Smart
Dark Night of the Soul is published by
Tekweni Productions. Cost R150 (excludes postage). Books can be ordered from
Exclusive Books or the Tekweni website www.tekweni.co.za and email: tekweni@iafrica.com
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