From the seedy past to her tell-all memoir … we chat to tenacious author and Westville resident Terry Angelos.
It has taken Terry Angelos 32 years to write down her story. The story of how she, the daughter of two devoted, respectable, middle-class teachers, ended up a call girl in London.
Born in Rhodesia – a place that raised her to be strong-willed, fearless and curious, she was, she says, destined for success in a white-picket-fence, 2.5-children family. Instead, she dropped out of her fine art degree, and headed to London, where by the time she was 20, she was a call girl … drinking champers in exclusive gentlemen’s clubs, and embroiled in the underworld of the Chinese mafia, depraved clients and blackmail. White Trash is her story … the details of a journey interwoven with hidden trauma and finding redemption.
In writing the book, Terry says she was looking for answers, desperate to retrace her childhood, teenage years and the ‘crocodile-infested waters that spat up her near-dead body from the underbelly of London’.
‘I knew I’d write a book one day, I’ve always felt a very strong spiritual conviction to tell my story. I started writing years ago, but waited until my children had finished school. We’re a close family and I would not have done the book without their consent. Conversations around the book were difficult but brought us even closer.’
Terry grew up in Rhodesia during the bush war before moving to Durban with her family when she was 11. Finding it hard to fit in, she went into rebel mode.
‘I met my first love, learnt about heartache, dropped out of college and, armed with a backpack and £150, set off for London. I was 19.’
While it also examines what it means to be a white South African, the book is an authentically moving account of Terry’s year spent living dangerously as a hostess at an exclusive gentlemen’s club where she made the equivalent of a flight home in one night’s work … where she teamed up with another girl and explored a dark world of lavish trips and sexual favours, resulting in a downward spiral laced with champagne and cocaine.
‘I thought I’d gone into that with my wits about me, but looking back it was the start of grooming.’
There are chapters that speak of a perilous blackmail scheme to escape, a harrowing experience before Terry reached a turning point and finding redemption through her relationship with God.
‘All the lies I had told myself about what I was doing came crashing down. I realised what I was doing was destroying me emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. I was not separate from my actions and I was becoming something that terrified me.’
At the beginning of this year, despite the fear of recrimination and judgement, Terry felt it was the right time to tell her story. She was not expecting personal healing or catharsis through writing the book, but says she ultimately found a deeper sense of understanding and compassion towards her younger self.
‘I wanted to write about the sex-work experience in a way that’s probably never been done before and, being a perfectionist, I told myself that if I was going to write a book, I was going to write a damn good book. The book exposed shame and insecurities that I’ve struggled with all my life, but it also gave me great insight into myself and was very liberating and healing.’
To help her tackle the racism and sexual material included in the subject matter, Terry attended a memoir-writing workshop with publisher Melinda Ferguson.
‘I didn’t want to be the poster child for owning up to racism, but I also couldn’t write my story without that being the backdrop and I didn’t want to sanitise it. I spent a lot of time learning how to write a compelling and nostalgic page-turner that anyone carrying deep shame and a painful past can relate to.’
This is so much more than just a titillating tell-all. It’s layered… brilliant for book clubs… especially if you engage in conversations about real life struggles.
Now living on the border of the Palmiet Nature Reserve, with her husband, her three children and a pug, Terry loves pottering around in her house and garden or working in her spacious loft art studio, filled with natural curiosities like bird nests, coral, insects and other memorabilia.
She prefers deep conversation to inane chatter, loves listening to podcasts and ‘going down rabbit holes of curious investigation. My mind never switches off. I am always evolving and trying new things. I draw inspiration from nature and put bread and butter on the table through art, which, unlike the book, is whimsical.’
‘I love reading, road trips and nature walks with my husband. I hate shopping but love to trawl for treasure at thrift shops or markets. ‘There’s also nothing better than good wine with friends. When I entertain I focus on creating a lovely setting with simple but yummy food. And let’s not forget word games. I play a good game of scrabble but no-one in my family will take me on.’
She describes herself as loyal. Loyal to her children, the love of her life. Loyal to those who form part of her close friendship circle. Loyal to God.
With her story out and a positive attitude about how it will be received, Terry says she is no longer afraid to be too much. ‘Take me as I am. A 52-year-old flawed but fabulous woman. Today I am living in a future that I did not dream possible. I am an anomaly, a miracle and I want to share with others that change is possible.’
Honest, descriptive, beautifully written, heartbreaking, uplifting … White Trash is a available at Exclusive Books and Bargain Books or online from Loot and Takelot, with a Kindle version on Amazon.
Details: terryangelosart.com, IG and FB: terryangelosart
CREDITS
Photos: Penny Katz Photography
