Virtual launch of 'A Poor Season for Whales' by Michiel Heyns on June 17

EVENT DETAILS

• Date: Wednesday June 17 (6pm)
• Virtual venues: The Reading List's Facebook page and YouTube channel
• Guest speaker: Finuala Dowling

ABOUT A POOR SEASON FOR WHALES 

“Margaret Crowley, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly fifty-six years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. It was therefore hardly to be foreseen that in her fifty- sixth year she would kill a man with a kitchen knife.”

When, after 26 years of marriage, Crowley’s husband leaves her for a younger man, she has to rethink her priorities and consider her options: as a free agent, with no “appurtenances”, how best to turn that freedom into a meaningful future rather than mulling over the past?

Opting to leave behind her support system of family and friends, she moves to the seaside town of Hermanus with her dog, Benjy, intent upon a simple, uncluttered existence.

But when the charismatic young Jimmy Prinsloo-Mazibuko enters her life and her home, apparently intent upon establishing himself as a general-purpose handyman and cook, she finds herself torn between distrust and attraction. Is he merely the helpful, cheerful young man he seems or is there a darker purpose to his assistance?

Article provided by Jonathan Ball