The Lighted Rooms
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Joan McAllistair is about to embark on the ‘Trip of a Lifetime’ with her daughter Eloise; a journey back to her childhood South Africa and the family homestead in the old Boer Republic of the Orange Free State.
For Eloise, the trip is partly a gift, partly a means of assuaging her guilt at moving her mother into a care home. For Joan, the discovery of her grandmother’s journal transports her to the troubled times of the Anglo-Boer war. Eloise, in the meantime, has gambled her business’s entire fortune on a promise made by an old lover.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
It is a vivid and captivating portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship. The novel explores the depth of experience rooted both in the individual and collective history of the nation. It depicts the strength of feelings and proves that being old means a lot but never having no voice.