It is a powerfully
written and cleverly structured book, often hard to read, but leaving the
reader with a deep sense of admiration. (Review by Margaret von Klemperer, courtesy
of The Witness)
Margie Orford first found fame as the author of the series of crime novels set in Cape Town that featured police profiler Clare Hart. They were clever, serious and threw a spotlight on the situation in South Africa, particularly where crimes against women were concerned. But after five books Orford stopped, although she went on to write The Eye of the Beholder.
The reasons for ending the Clare Hart series are explained in this deeply personal and sometimes harrowing memoir.
Orford grew up in Namibia – it was a conventionally happy childhood. But she was sent to Cape Town to boarding school and, rebellious and unhappy, that was where things started to change for her. Politically aware at university, she ended up being arrested and jailed, and had to write some of her final exams in prison. There were many formative and difficult experiences which shaped her future path and her interests, but scarred her at the same time.
At one point early in the book, she says: “There is no way to say something out loud that you can’t say to yourself first.” And that is as true of writing as it is of speech, and the reader comes to feel that it has taken Orford many years of trauma, disappointment, success and disillusion to be able to write this book.
“Writer’s block” is a convenient phrase, but until a writer can process their own experiences, they will be unable to communicate them.
Orford takes the reader through her life, from Namibia, to London, marriage and motherhood, to New York and back to Namibia and Cape Town, all the while facing the dichotomy she feels between wanting freedom to live out her dreams and write and wanting to be a good mother to her three daughters. She shows how reality can be a very hard thing to handle. And she reveals the trauma that she has faced at various times in her life, and how it has shaped her, both as a writer and as a person dedicated to various causes including feminism and the scourge of violence against women.
But what she went through herself and saw others suffer has taken its toll. Her marriage ended and she, currently living in London, struggled with suicidal thoughts and the inability to write. Love and Fury represents her victory, but it has come at a cost. It is a powerfully written and cleverly structured book, often hard to read, but leaving the reader with a deep sense of admiration. - Margaret von Klemperer
Love and Fury is published by Jonathan Ball: ISBN 978-1-77619-088-1