Multifaceted, lucid and compelling, Dawn Promislow's stories certainly represent a collection of "jewels." Each takes place in 1970s South Africa and touches on the polarities of race and class at the forefront of Apartheid: two nannies see the ocean for the first time, a housewife savours her secret freedom, an impoverished boy develops into a successful artist and police brutality disrupts a quiet workday.
No story runs longer than ten pages, forcing Promislow to write tight, controlled prose. The result is fourteen haunting tales that, though repetitive at times, clearly illuminate a tense and divided society.
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