A quilt of dreams - Patricia Schonstein

Set in Grahamstown, South Africa, during the 1990s, at the height of political unrest and opposition to apartheid, this is the bittersweet story of two people whose lives intertwine without them ever knowing each other - one a heavy-drinking white man and the other the young daughter of a black activist.

Reuben Cohen van Tonder's battle with unresolved grief and his search for hidden peace and Vita Mbuli's innocent resolve to remove the bad luck which has troubled her family for generations, climax together in a wondrous resolution of personal and national triumph.

This tale captures the harsh and brutal realities of South Africa's past with its raw and sore racism, interlacing them with enchantment, tenderness, forgiveness and hope.