When it comes to scent, I tend to favor perfume oils rather than eau de toilette or eau de cologne. The alcohol freaks me out, and I don’t like the way many such scents - even the expensive ones – smell “perfumey.” Recently, however, a shopping excursion with a friend led me to the perfume section at ULTA, where we spent a lovely fifteen or twenty minutes spritzing scents on paper test strips. (If only they’d have supplied coffee grounds to clear our olfactory systems between whiffs.)

Even more recently, I was in ULTA by myself, and I was in the mood for a scent I could spritz. One that was light and flirty. I tried a bunch that the cheerful salesperson recommended (one was a lovely blend of floral and aquatic notes, but my collection is heavy on aquatics right now), before wandering off to explore a bit on my own. In so doing, I spied a bottle that, I admit, I was first attracted to because of the name, Moon Sparkle. It’s a new (this year) scent from Escada Fragrances.

I sprayed some on a test strip, sniffed, and was greeted by a light fruity scent. I recognized something like currant, and some kind of berry. I waited a bit before sniffing again, because I’ve learned that perfume smells different on dry down than it does wet. Now there was more depth, still fruity, but with citrus in the mix (grapefruit, I think), a hint of sandalwood, and a dash of some kind of resin (checking online, I confirmed the presence of dry amber).

Pleased so far, I dared to try some on my skin. This is important, as everyone’s chemistry is different, and there are some scents I love in the bottle, but simply cannot wear. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find that Moon Sparkle works well for me. It’s sweet and fruity, but not childish, and the darker notes of sandalwood, amber, and even a little musk make it appropriate for someone approaching her forties. Also important, the sweetness is buoyant and never cloying.

ULTA’s price for the 30 ml (1 oz) eau de toilette is roughly $40. List prices elsewhere are in the low $50s. The actual perfume comes in 30, 50 and 100 ml bottles as well as in a body wash and moisturizer, and there’s also a version for men, which, I have to say, I wouldn’t mind sniffing on my husband every so often.
If you’re interested in trying Escada Moon Sparkle for yourself, visit their website to request a free sample.

Melissa A. Bartell earns her living by writing articles for an SEO marketing firm, and is working on her first novel. She lives near Dallas, TX with her husband, two dogs, and more computers than anyone really needs. She is the Senior Editor here at All Things Girl. Find out more about her on our About page, or visit her website.

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A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting San Francisco for a writing conference. On the second evening, nine of our group decided to meet for dinner. After wandering down Chestnut Street in the wind for what seemed like a half hour, and was probably really only ten minutes (I was cold and hungry), we stumbled upon Izzy’s Steaks and Chops off of Steiner St.

The members of the group perused the menu out front, and it looked to me like there might have been some sticker shock. Nonetheless, I think we were all starving, so Izzy’s it was. We entered en masse and waited for a table for our large party. Luckily for us, we embarked upon this adventure at 6:00pm on a Wednesday night. They were able to seat us almost immediately!

The inside of Izzy’s is really lovely. Austere is the word that comes to mind. The location that we visited on Steiner has two levels, and we were dining upstairs. The lighting was soft, and there were many black and white photos and news clippings framed on the walls. They were not tacky, but lent a feeling of authenticity.

Our waiter, a hulking, yet hot, Kazakhstani man came to take our order. Unfortunately for us, he stood in the pretty line too long, not taking any detour to the smart line, because after our drinks came out nothing was right. He couldn’t figure out whose food belonged to whom. And then we really baffled him by asking him to separate the checks. Apparently it was an impossible feat for the feeble of mind. It took over an hour to get our bill, and then no one’s was correct.

The food was good. I’m choosing good on purpose. My top sirloin steak could have been phenomenal, but the sauce was mediocre, and it was undercooked. Sorry, I just can’t eat my meat bloody rare; I asked for medium well. I didn’t hear any other complaints. And one woman in our party absolutely loved the pork loin. The food was expensive but not over the top. It was about what I would expect to pay for a nice steakhouse.

I will however rave about the potatoes. The “Izzy’s” potatoes are called au gratin on the menu. But we did manage to get from our waiter what was in them: Gouda, Parmesan and grilled onions. They were to die for!

As we left at 9:00pm, business at the bar downstairs was booming. It had attracted a crowd of young, 30-something aged professionals. If I had the opportunity to dine there again, I definitely would. I could always try something different on the menu. Really, just give me a plate of those potatoes and a drink, and I’d be good to go.

Michelle Sliwa, a fourteen year educator, currently works as a high school counselor in Chino Hills, CA. Her raison d’etre are her two children. A voracious reader, she is currently writing her first novel as well. A native Californian, her favorite spots are the beach or Palm Springs. It’s all about the sun!

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Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road was recently nominated for the Best of the Booker, a contest to find the absolute pinnacle of previous Booker winners. The Eye in the Door series of which The Ghost Road is the final book, explores the themes of war and sexuality in a supremely eloquent way. In Barker’s trilogy the civilians forced into battle by the First World War are malformed into broken and distressed pieces. Those of Barker’s characters who return from the front still able to function have a desperate need unleashed in them to express their own desires, causing them to try to ignore all the social conformity expected of them. This passionate series certainly deserved to be included in the Best of Booker shortlist.

In her most recent book Life Class Barker returns to the same time period and themes but from a significantly different angle. The main characters Paul, Kit and Elinor are dragged from the world of art into the war, as Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were in the previous trilogy, but this time the visual arts are concentrated on rather than literature. In The Ghost Road the majority of characters are civilians transformed into soldiers, Life Class features civilians who participate in the war as ambulance drivers and hospital workers. These slight shifts in focus prevent a similar situation and characters with familiar attitudes from seeming stale.

Paul and Elinor are first shown as students at the prestigious Slade art school. Paul is struggling to improve and impress his drawing master, Elinor has won some prizes and is successful, although only in a “schoolgirl sort of way” as she puts it. They are all seeking approval and some kind of cataclysm to transform their artwork into a source of certainty and pride. For Paul the war eventually provides this change, as it did for Sassoon’s poetry. For Elinor the war is abhorrent and she struggles to achieve artistically without using it as a basis for her paintings. Through these two characters we see Barker explore more separately what she conveyed in Regeneration through Sassoon’s conflicted attempts at pacifism. These two differing attitudes affect their painting. Elinor sees war as a subject that must be excluded from art as it does not fit with her idea of beauty while Paul wearily feels that war can not be kept out of art. Although when he is in a fevered state he becomes afraid of his wartime art, he also expresses quiet pride in it.

Elinor is the kind of woman that men revolve around; beautiful, talented and distant she is a fascinating character for readers to follow. Although Elinor is allowed her own voice in the novel she still never fully discloses her core motivations and internal thoughts. She appears unsure of much in life, a quality that makes her a realistic character. As the war becomes all consuming in the lives of those around her she fights to keep it from her life but the reader can never be sure why she is attempting to ignore the war. She makes many odd, illogical decisions in the eyes of her peers and in the eyes of the readers. Readers may marvel when a woman so opposed to knowing about the war journeys to a war hospital to see the man she loves at work. That she would involve herself with someone so directly affected by the war in the first place seems anomalous. Do all characters have to make logical, sensible decisions to be likeable no matter what situation they are in? Elinor’s confusion and inabilities seems entirely appropriate for a woman coming of age in such a changeable period of history

The shallowness of the characters in the pre-war portion of the novel and their apparent minimal reactions during wartime seem to be of some concern to readers. The reason why Barker’s characters work so well is that they transcend modern certainties about how people acted before and during the war. Before the war intrudes the characters are young, artistic, attractive and British, a certain amount of shallow feeling is bound to result from this position of privilege. As for the characters during war it is refreshing to see people who do not conform to the idea that this generation were ordinary saints who capably dealt with the worst. It is easy to forget that for civilians drafted into the First World War contributing was not their purpose or their job but rather an interruption to their lives; civilians had objectives and dreams separate to the war. Including characters who continue to cherish and pursue their real ambitions despite feeling hopeless at doing so successfully avoids portraying the period with saccharine cliché.

Barker refuses to keep her characters within the boundaries of acceptability. In the Eye in the Door trilogy most of her characters are busy cracking open their society’s ideas about sexuality, cowardice and class. Barker has again created personalities that challenge the normal ideas of their time and encourage readers to think of people in wartime as part of humanity, rather than a separate, noble breed.

Jodie Baker: Jodie is a Marketing Assistant, working and living in the middle of England. She contributes a monthly column about British literature at http://www.estellabooks.blogspot.com/ and has a weekly spot, explaining how to add a little romance and love to the world at http://boutiqueflair.ning.com/ .
She makes individual love objects, which take the form of necklaces, earrings and bracelets, in order to bring a little romance back into gift giving. These can be found at http://www.blinkingmouse.etsy.com/

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There’s something about Steve Carell that makes me laugh and laugh and laugh - it’s no surprise he is considered one of the funniest men alive. In NBC’s version of The Office, he plays the obnoxious, foot-in-mouth-afflicted, cringe-worthy Michael Scott. Hilarious! In The 40-Year-Old Virgin he was an absolute riot (remember the chest waxing scene? Ouch!) And yet, there’s that other side to Steve Carell, like the one we saw in Little Miss Sunshine. This brilliant movie is sure-fire proof that Carrell does the serious as well as the funny. And it’s this side that we see in Dan in Real Life (as well as a bit of the funny).

Starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche, Dan in Real Life is about a guy called (yeah, you guessed it) Dan, who is a writer, a widower and father of three girls. There’s an infinite sense of sadness about him – as if life has dealt him one too many cruel blows. The story begins as Dan prepares his kids for a family trip to his parents’ home. Keep in mind, however, that two of the girls are in their teens. Throw hormones and teenage angst into the mix and you can well imagine how happy they are being dragged off to meet up with the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. By the time they arrive at the family home, nerves are frayed and everyone is in serious need of a time-out. The next morning, Dan’s mom hustles him out of the house to buy a newspaper. He’s at the local bookshop when in walks a beautiful woman with an alluring French accent – Marie (Juliette Binoche). They strike up a conversation and really hit it off. As her and Dan share a muffin and coffee a little later, they chat as if they’ve known each other for years, and there is definite chemistry. Ooh-la-la! Marie is the first woman Dan’s been really interested since his wife’s death and so before she has to rush off to another engagement, he asks for her phone number. Driving back to the family with his head in the clouds, he finds himself feeling hopeful for the first time in ages. But as is Murphy’s Law, Fate steps in and things go pear-shaped.

Described as a ‘comedy-drama’, Dan in Real Life is a story about the importance of not giving up on the search for happiness and love, and reminds us that it doesn’t always happen that way we’d like it to. It’s a really great story filled with family dynamics… lots of funny moments… a few serious moments… and complimented by a great cast. A simplistic yet heartfelt soundtrack (courtesy of Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche) is the cherry on top. Directed by Peter Hedges (who wrote What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and About a Boy), Dan in Real Life definitely worth watching.

Nicola-Jane Ford is a 30-year old ‘chick’ who is the proud guardian of a fabulous cat and many pairs of equally fabulous shoes. She lives in (gorgeous) Cape Town and supports her love of red wine by working as a copywriter. She is the Assistant Reviews Editor here at All Things Girl

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Martha Carrier was hanged as witch during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, but the time leading up to the trials and Martha’s hanging are told in meticulous detail from the eyes of her daughter, Sarah.  At the beginning of the story, we find the Carrier family attempting to outrun smallpox by moving from Billerica to Andover, but it is not in time as one of the sons has already taken ill.  Sarah and her little sister are sent to live with family members in a home very different from theirs:  one that is loving and cheerful instead of somber and critical. As time progresses, we see the seeds that bloom to make Martha seem to be a witch:  in addition to the smallpox, it is believed she bewitched a fire so that it blew onto someone else’s lands and that her sharp words caused livestock to sicken and die.  The Carriers are hardworking people and Martha is simply a woman, who unlike women are supposed to be, is willing to speak up for the rights of women and children.  Sarah learns that her mother isn’t cold and uncaring and will sacrifice herself to keep her children safe.

Author Kathleen Kent is actually a tenth-generation decedent of Martha Carrier and weaves a heartfelt take from the eyes of Martha’s daughter, combining facts from history, family legends, meticulous research and fertile imagination.  The Heretic’s Daughter chronicles not just the hysteria of the witch trials, but the story of a family learning that they truly love each other, even if the discovery is too late.

I really loved this book.  The suppression of women and the persecution of people simply because they don’t fit the norm are themes that speak across the ages.

Visit The Heretic’s Daughter Website or to find out more about the facts behind the book, catch the  Video on YouTube.  Kathleen Kent was a Guest Poster on the All Things Girl Blog as well.

Deb Smouse is the Editor in Chief for All Things Girl. She just edged into her 40’s and has discovered no matter the age, she still loves books. She reads between 4 to 8 novels a month, depending on how much flight time she has…. Find out more about Deb on our about page

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Now if like me, you are a fan of the show, you’ll know that there are two types of X-Files episodes. There’s the mythology / ‘mytharc’ aspect (all that stuff with the black oil, Scully’s baby, super soldiers…) and then there are the monster of the week episodes. Well this movie is of the latter.

Set six years after the show ended, both Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have left the FBI. Scully has gone back to her medical background and is a doctor at a hospital, while Mulder has become a bit of a recluse, still obsessing over the ‘truth’ and sporting a very hairy face! After the mysterious disappearance of an agent, the FBI asks Scully to help them find Mulder to assist them with the case. (Remember in the last episode of the X-Files, Mulder is sentenced to death but manages to break out of confinement, and so he’s a fugitive of the law. The FBI agrees to call off the manhunt in exchange for his help.) So Scully convinces Mulder to get involved. An integral part of the plot is Father Joe (Billy Connolly) who has ‘visions’ related to the case. The catch is Father Joe is a convicted pedophile and Scully wants nothing to do with him. But Mulder is intrigued, and so begins their hunt for the truth.

There’s all of that fun scary stuff that is so very X-Files. Medicine and religion – always a good mix. I would’ve liked it to explore the whole mythology side though. (Apparently they’re thinking of doing another movie that covers that.) Also - and I felt the same about the Sex and the City movie - sometimes the episodes are simply better than the movie versions and the same applies here. But on the whole, the X-files movie isn’t bad. It is great to see Mulder and Scully back in action again. (‘Pity Agents Doggett and Reyes aren’t in the movie. And Alex Krycek too. Yes, I know he’s dead. But hey, if they can resurrect people in Days of our Lives surely they can do it for the X–Files. Right?)

The X-Files movie may not have been a box-office hit, but if you’re a fan of the show and ‘want to believe’, be sure to watch it anyway.

Nicola-Jane Ford is a 30-year old ‘chick’ who is the proud guardian of a fabulous cat and many pairs of equally fabulous shoes. She lives in (gorgeous) Cape Town and supports her love of red wine by working as a copywriter. She is the Assistant Reviews Editor here at All Things Girl

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Recently a friend recommended I read a book he absolutely adored called The Alchemist, by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. This friend of mine is one of life’s seekers of light and treasure, and as such he is a deeply spiritual person – much like Paulo Coelho himself, as is obvious when you read his book. I’m different. I believe you make your own treasure and light in life. However, Coelho and I seem to agree on one point - the journey is the most important part of the treasure.

The Alchemist is a fable about a shepherd boy (named Santiago but referred to as just “the boy” throughout the book) from the Andalusia area of Southern Spain. He lives a simple shepherd life, herding his sheep from place to place, finding them good food to eat and clean water to drink, and occasionally selling their fleece to fill his purse. He is simple and innocent and his needs are few, but he craves excitement and adventure, and he wants to travel and see the world. One day he meets an old god/king (the fabled King of Salem, Melchizedek) who promises to tell him where to find treasure, in exchange for one tenth of his flock of sheep. The boy, believing in omens, and that the omens are guiding him, gives the sheep to the old man.

After giving the old man his share of sheep, he is told that he should listen to the omens and follow what they tell him to do. He must take the two hour ferry trip from the tip of Andalusian Spain to Morocco, and from there he must journey through the Sahara desert to the Pyramids where he will find his treasure. He has many setbacks but eventually he reaches his destination, however it is his journey that is his real treasure. He learns better how to read the omens and discovers their importance; they are the voice of the Soul of the World speaking directly to him. He learns how to listen to his heart, to understand when it is lying and when it is telling the truth. He finds true love, an unending perfect love, the kind of love only found in fables.

Although the treasure is the primary aim of this journey, it is only while on the journey that the boy gathers the skills and wisdom he needs to reach his goal. It is also during this time that he meets the alchemist, but this isn’t any ordinary alchemist. This is Super Alchemist. Not only can he transmute common metals into gold, and create The Philosopher’s Stone, like all alchemists, but he has the wisdom of the ages, can talk directly to the Soul of the World and can even become the wind. He rides a shining white steed and carries a large scimitar, while the image conjured up is not dissimilar to Rudolph Valentino’s Sheik. It is the alchemist who guides our shepherd friend through the metaphorical jungle of indecision before leading him, quiet literally, through the desert to find his treasure.

While The Alchemist is a beautiful and extraordinarily optimistic tale, it isn’t very well written, but that’s not to say the it isn’t a good book. It’s a strong story related to the reader by the omniscient narrator, told in a way reminiscent of fairy tales or spiritual texts like the Bible or Koran.

Coelho has a bad habit of writing prolix speeches for his characters. In trying to pass along his moral from each wise man who the boy encounters, the lessons are often delivered in a patronising way and can feel more like a soliloquy. Many times I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being beaten about the head with these homilies. The length of these pontifications can disrupt the flow of the story sometimes, to the point of stopping it altogether, and as a result the book can feel slightly long-winded and even faltering in places

These concerns aside, the book is both entertaining and inspirational. If you’re a spiritual person you will undoubtedly feel Coelho’s all-things-in-creation-linked-to-God moral very keenly. Maybe he will inspire you to follow your heart, listen to that still small voice when it tells you to follow your God’s chosen path. You’ll believe him when he tells you that if you are destined to do something, the Universe will conspire with the Soul of the World to help you achieve it. And just when things look their darkest, when you are furthest from your goal it will be presented to you, if you stay faithful to your path.

I found The Alchemist inspirational too, but not perhaps in the way the author intended. I didn’t have a spiritual re-emergence, nor a swelling of faith; I didn’t come to believe that I have a preordained path or journey, that I am destined to take, nor that the Universe would help me to successfully complete my journeys through life. I was inspired to begin writing my novel again, after a long hiatus. I realised that as long as you have an interesting and entertaining story to tell, and you tell it well, your technical ability to write that story isn’t as important. It’s the journey, after-all, that makes it all worthwhile.

A.L. Harper is a freelance writer and motorbike fanatic originally from Salt Lake City, Utah but now living in Scotland. In addition to being the Managing Editor for All Things Girl, A.L. is the Assistant Music Editor for Blogcritics.org and a freelance writer.

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When it comes to romantic fiction, there are two main categories: the “twinkling brown eyes” novels you can read while sprawled on a sun-drenched beach blanket in broad daylight (suitably slathered with sunscreen, of course), and the darker, more mysterious kind, that go better with a balmy, moonlight summer night, a glass of chilled tea or lemonade, and the soft perfume of night blossoms wafting on the breeze.

When Twilight Burns, by Colleen Gleason, is not at all a formula romance, but this fourth installment in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles still falls into the latter category.

This novel picks up just where its predecessor, The Bleeding Dusk, left off: with the question of what has become of our heroine, Victoria Gardella Grandwood de Lacey, Venator (that’s a kind of vampire hunter), after being bitten by the vampire Beauregard (now deceased, of course).

We are led on a path of passion, intrigue, romance, and self-discovery as Victoria balances the darkness growing within and the dark creatures she is sworn to hunt, and if that isn’t enough, there’s still the feelings she has for Max and Sebastian, the two most significant men in her life, each pulling at a different part of her heart and soul.

As with the first three novels in the Gardella Vampire Chronicles, author Colleen Gleason spins a gripping tale that perfectly blends Regency-era England with a modern sensibility that never fails to please, not to mention obvious the care and depth of research she lends to all her work.

When Twilight Burns will be available at your favorite bookstore on Tuesday, August 5th. You can read our interview with Ms. Gleason in this issue. Watch our blog on August 8th for a special giveaway from the author, and also visit her website at ColleenGleason.com.

Melissa A. Bartell left her heart in San Francisco, because her books took up too much room in her luggage. She is a freelance writer living and working in the Dallas, TX metroplex, and generally reads 2-3 books a week. She is the Senior Editor here at All Things Girl. Find out more about her on our About Page. You can find her at her blog as well as other places here and there.

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When I say that I love Marian Keyes’ writing, what I actually mean is that I love, love, love, really love her writing. Since the early days of Watermelon, I’ve been such a huge fan of this Irish author’s writing style and her approach to dealing with common yet uncomfortable life issues, which most of us can relate to - like it or not. Keyes write under the guise of ‘chick-lit’, a much abused term that belies the powerful content of her novels. Anyway, that said, you can imagine how chuffed I was to get my paws on her latest offering: This Charming Man.

Set in Dublin, the novel is written from the vantage point of four 30-something year old women - Lola, Grace, her sister Marnie and Alicia - bound together by (yes, you guessed it) a man. But not just any man. We’re talking about Paddy de Courcy, a young up-and-coming, hot to trot Irish politician and the novel’s ‘charming man’. (In my mind, he looks just like JFK Jr.) But our Paddy is anything but charming.

Lola’s first up in the novel - she’s just been dumped by her lover, Paddy - and in the worst way possible way. Out of the blue she reads about his engagement to another woman, and just like that, their 16-month relationship is over. It’s hard not to laugh a little and nod your head in commiseration and understanding as she goes a little postal after the break-up, leaving hundreds of voice messages on his mobile and even resorting to camping out on his doorstep so that he has to talk to her. Phoning her girlfriends, telling them to bring her soup while she braves it outside his front door, we feel sorry for Lola. (Who of us haven’t done something a little nutty while in the throes of a break-up? Ah, the memories…) But his resolve is stronger than hers and he doesn’t come to the door. Eventually she gives up her vigil, broken in so many ways. Anyway, as Lola watches her life fall apart as a result of the break-up, her friends convince her to take some time out at a holiday home in Knockavoy - a quaint little Irish town far away from Dublin and, more importantly, Paddy.

Next we meet Grace, a journalist working for the local newspaper. She is introduced initially as the reporter who is trying to get info on Paddy from Lola, but as we get to know her better she grows on the readers as a confident, sensible woman with a great partner (Damien) and a twin sister, Marnie. Unlike her sister, Marnie lives in England and is married with two kids. She seems to have the perfect life but as the story unfolds, it appears all that glitters in not gold.

Lastly, there is Alicia - Paddy’s wife-to-be. Of the four women, her character is the one we know the least about. But what we do know isn’t particularly riveting. She comes across as insipid and insecure.

But wait for it… here’s the clincher: Each of the novel’s chapters are punctuated by an account of domestic abuse which frankly, is not something one expects of chick-lit. (Like I mentioned, Keyes’ redefines the genre.) Indeed, domestic violence is the central theme of the novel, and while handled very sensitively and with a protective layer of humour, its stance is very clear. Yet for the most part, even though we know that one of the characters is a victim of domestic violence, we are left in the dark as to which woman it is. Kinda like in real life, hey? Though it’s not hard to guess who the aggressor is.

This Charming Man is definitely worth reading. As women, domestic violence is something too many of us have to deal with, and the novel helps broach a subject that is generally considered taboo. Characteristically Keyes, is her brilliant sense of humour. As mentioned, she is as Irish as they come and her writing reflects the humour typical of the Emerald Isle. The language too is fairly colloquial but it’s pretty easy to get into the swing of things. Fast-paced and engrossing, This Charming Man proved to be a great read and certainly lived up to the hype surrounding its release. Enjoy it!

Nicola-Jane Ford is a 30-year old ‘chick’ who is the proud guardian of a fabulous cat and many pairs of equally fabulous shoes. She lives in (gorgeous) Cape Town and supports her love of red wine by working as a copywriter. She is the Assistant Reviews Editor here at All Things Girl

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Set in South Africa, The Pickup is the story of a young South African woman (Julie) who meets and falls in love with a foreigner, Abdu (whose real name is Ibrahim). She is a confident young woman from a fairly wealthy family, has a solid social group and a job in P.R. that she is not particularly emotionally invested in, but it pays the bills. Abdu, on the other hand, is a young immigrant, living in the country illegally and working as a mechanic. He barely scrapes by and lives his life day by day.

A true daughter of the ‘new South Africa’, Julies enters freely and willingly into a relationship with Abdu, embracing his foreign culture. What Julie takes for granted though, is that while the ‘new South Africa’ is epitomised by democracy, freedom and choice, these are rights reserved especially for the privileged. The new, post-apartheid constitution dictates that these are rights to which every individual is entitled, yet in reality, it is primarily only the privileged who are able to enjoy them. Abdu is unable to get his permanent residency in South Africa, and when his attempts to remain in the country prove futile, he is forced to return to his homeland, somewhere in Saudi Arabia. Devastated at the prospect of losing her new lover and jaded by her life in Johannesburg, Julie decides to leave with Abdu, in spite of his misgivings surrounding her doing so. Due to cultural norms, Abdu tells Julie he cannot take her to his family home unless they go as husband and wife and so they are married in a court of law before leaving the country.

Julie finds herself in a foreign country where no one speaks her language and the role of women is dramatically different to what she is accustomed. Abdu, in the meantime, reverts back to his real name (Ibrahim) and spends his days trying to find another country for them to live in. After all, he left his home in search of hope and a future, and although he was not permitted to stay in South Africa, he still clings to his dream of a better life, wherever that may be.

However, now in Ibrahim’s country of birth, a power shift takes place. Julie has to learn to live her life according to new ‘norms’ - different to how she was brought up. She now lives in a country where she can’t understand what people are saying, is not allowed to go certain places unless accompanied by a man (as if she were a child) and her role as a woman is clearly defined. Like Ibrahim was like a fish out of water in her culture, so is she in his.

The Pickup deals with the more ambiguous implications of a new, post-apartheid South Africa. The novel juxtaposes privilege with poverty, belonging with exile, global with local and choice with compulsion - using the two main characters to each represent a side. It makes for an interesting read, especially in the context of a post-apartheid South Africa.

Nadine Gordimer is a hugely important South African literary figure. An ardent opposer of the apartheid regime, her works (both fiction and non-fiction) have earned her a Booker Prize (The Conservationist, 1974), the Nobel Prize for Literature (1991) and the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2007) - among many other awards.

Nicola-Jane Ford is a 30-year old ‘chick’ who is the proud guardian of a fabulous cat and many pairs of equally fabulous shoes. She lives in (gorgeous) Cape Town and supports her love of red wine by working as a copywriter. She is the Assistant Reviews Editor here at All Things Girl

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