Cathy Donald recently released two new books, for which she has been lauded from far and wide.
Donald won the prestigious Jury Prize at the Milan International Literary Awards in November 2022 for The Silence of the Shadows and received raging reviews for Breathless.
The Silence of the Shadows
Five very different women… Cape Town is home to each one of them. Surrounded by its mountains and seas, but also by the struggles and difficulties of a young post-transformation country, each one lives out her separate life. Then fate begins to intertwine their lives through a series of circumstances…
Faith, who has taken on a job as part-time receptionist in Bethany’s practice, is physically abused by her manipulative and controlling husband. Between Bethany and Rafiqah, the detective who investigates her case, they manage to persuade her to prosecute him and this involves the legal help of Lindiwe, the public prosecutor. But Lindiwe’s nightmare past means that her involvement in cases of abuse can never be totally objective.
The Silence of the Shadows is a novel about the strength and frailty in each of us, the recognition that at different times we can be either the helper or the helped and that it is totally acceptable to be both.
Breathless
Breathless is a journey through the changed landscape of our Covid-19 world, as seen through the eyes of Emily, a frontline healthcare worker. It takes the reader through the ups and downs of life as a healthcare professional during a pandemic, as well as the challenges for her family, the struggle of her patients for survival and of her own struggle for physical and emotional well-being.
Anne Preston reviewed the book: What a pleasure it was reading Donald’s latest novel, Breathless. There are few authors who include so much insight where values and the personalities of role models play such an important part in the characters of a novel.
What better topic to write a novel on than Covid-19, starting at the beginning of this overwhelming virus and moving through to the end of the first wave. In fact, Donald could easily write a follow-up to either on the characters or to the topic.
She was wise in starting with Covid-19 rearing it’s ugly head in Wuhan; we are all led to believe that the first Covid-19 case was found in China’s Wuhan, which she brought into the novel in her Prologue.
My emotions ran high with sadness, tension, a sense of fear as I delved into the accurate medical knowledge given. As indicated on the back cover, Cathy Donald is a medical practitioner by profession. This becomes evident as one follows the story. I’m looking forward to this author’s next novel.
Donald’s books were proudly launched by Blue Weaver and Helco Promotions.
