The Book of Happenstance

Helena Verbloem assists Theo Verwey in tracing the histories and meanings of Afrikaans words, many of them long fallen out of use. She is drawn to him, though he has a beautiful wife and her hopes are slight. His sudden death lets other truths seep out, of hidden affairs with men and of intrigue. Around the same time a burglar takes her treasured shells, which had restored her faith in creation, and leaves her carpet fouled. Chasing them leads her through coincidence after coincidence; the enigmatic Jaykee offers help that never comes, and a cynical caller, Freek van As, harasses her by phone. Slowly the stolen shells give way to older griefs she has kept hidden: her dead mother and sister, her husband, the egotist Abel Sonnekus and Martinus Maritz, a young poet whose gift came to nothing.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Length

336 pages in the original

Set in

South Africa

First published

2006 by Human & Rousseau

Author's age

58 when first published

ISBN

9780798147286 (original)

9781934824337 (Open Letter, United States)