Jenny Hobbs

JJ Kitching, sports hero, war hero and family man – known as Kitchen Boy to his adoring public – lies dying and, through memories meandering through his last hours and the minds of those who attend his public funeral, this easy-to-read and captivating story reflects a vignette of the complexities of South African life, both past and present…in this thoroughly enjoyable read, Hobbs has perceptively and compassionately portrayed the intricacies of both human nature and of a country on the cusp of a bright new future where, as JJ discovered, luck matters and life is chancy. (Full review in WordsEtc, Second Quarter, 2011.)… (meer)

Set in the mid 1980s, but told in a series of flashbacks, this is the story of a young white South African woman with a coloured husband who is an ANC activist. Living in exile in Lesotho, they are killed by hooded gunmen one night. Rose's parents arrive in a fury of grief and guilt to be at her funeral. This tale of forbidden love and fatal attraction was inspired by a real life event, the murder of Jackie Quin and Leon Meyer in Lesotho in 1985. They had tried to burst through the barricades which so artificially divided the peoples of South Africa.… (meer)