All We Have Left Unsaid by Maxine Case

Published by Kwela Books, 2006, softcover, 270 pages, condition: new.

Danika believes she can cope with anything. Now, as she keeps vigil at her mother's hospital bed, watching her life slip away, she feels compelled to answer the questions that linger from her childhood in the eighties. What was the state of emergency about? Why did her father leave, and what happened the night no one ever talks about? Only now, with her mother beyond hearing, can Danika break the silence of those difficult years. Now she can speak the words that were always left unsaid. This beautifully crafted novel is a moving exploration of love and bereavement; of the ties that bind mothers, daughters and sisters, and the silences that keep them apart.

A very well written first novel. We feel the protagonist's every emotion. I did this with my Grade 10 students and they loved it too. Jumping between the present and the past, which is really not as confusing as it sounds, the author takes us on a journey of love, loss, devotion and sisterhood.

Danika, her sister, Lily and their mother go through ups and downs as the girls grow up in Cape Town during the apartheid era. The beginning ties in with the end of the story; as their mother lies on her deathbed, Danika recalls all that has happened in their past and brought them to this point. Now, can she forgive and forget?

A brilliant storyline and an easy read.