I really wanted to like this book. Naledi Chaba is a lawyer in Botswana working for a 'children's agency' providing advice to abused children and their families, prosecuting cases and generally doing her bit to protect women. Unfortunately, the book is almost without a central plotline. Whilst I have no objection to reading a set of character studies, perhaps structured as a book of short stories, this was not the end product. Naledi comes across as almost too angry and the rest of the characters without exception are cardboard cutouts. I am willing Dow to write better books, I am her perfect target audience! Disappointed. ( )

Unity Dow is Botswana's first female High Court Judge and in this book she has stuck closely to the profession she knows.

Naledi Chaba is a lawyer working for a children's centre, dealing with cases of divorce, rape and domestic violence. A single woman in a man's world, she struggles against the prejudices of the patriarchal, European-influenced legal code that is often in conflict with the customs of the country and which seems to always work in favour of men.

This could have been a good read except that Dow's writing is really heavy-handed and clunky. In the first two pages we know pretty much all there is to know about the story. Naledi obviously CARES, otherwise why hasn't she taken some high-flying legal job? And we know straight away that she's trying to balance being a serious career woman with wanting to wear high heels and paint her nails. Everything is heavily signposted, leaving nothing for the reader to find out about Naledi. And the only mystery of the book isn't actually very mysterious or interesting!

It doesn't help that much of the story is Naledi telling us about case after case that she has worked on to illustrate how women are treated in Botswana and the inequalities that exist. Valid issues, of course, but most of the book feels like reading a series of case studies from Dow's career. Which possibly would be more interesting than reading about Naledi's life. ( )

Clunky. Very clunky. Has a few interesting insights into modern Botswana society, but the prose is not much of a pleasure. ( )