An astonishingly haunting novel from Penguin Books SA
It’s hard to believe that this is a work of fiction, so real and raw is this account of the agony of ‘the task of steering a riddle child through life’ - Cape Argus
Alexander is autistic. When he is nine years old he is found dead in a bath of water. The only other person in the house at the time is his mother, Ingrid. The circumstances arouse suspicion and the police take Ingrid into custody.
Did she murder her child?
And who could blame her if she did?
In this haunting novel Annelie Botes exposes the tragedy of autism and its devastating effect on families. Searingly honest, it brings home the inescapable truth that society can be cruelly indifferent to whatever it perceives to be aberrant.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annelie Botes lives in the Eastern Cape; and is well-known for her Afrikaans novels, some of which have been translated into English, German and Dutch. Her stories and novellas have been published in Huisgenoot, Sarie and Rooi Rose. Botes’ novel, Raaiselkind was adapted for the stage in 2003, and shortlisted for the Book Data/SAPnet’s Booksellers’ Choice Award and the ATKV Prize for popular prose in 2002.
Riddle Child – a translation of the Afrikaans
Raaiselkind – was her first book to be published in English.
Her seventh book,
Thula Thula was released in June 2009
