August in South Africa is women’s month and what better way to celebrate it than to have a woman’s book featured as book of the month?
Toni Maguire‘s Don’t tell mummy is a book sharing her personal story of abuse. The story begins with Toni, visiting her mother in a hospice after receiving the news that she is sick. Sitting in the hospice with a lit cigarette, the memories of how she was molested as a child start flooding her.
At six years old, she encounters sexual assault, and she is warned not to tell her mother. When she does, she is told never to speak of it again. Toni is molested by her father until she falls pregnant at fourteen years old. She is forced to terminate the pregnancy and it almost results in her death.
When her father is imprisoned for his acts, Toni is left to deal with the anger, rejection and guilt by herself.
Although this book was published in 2007, it’s relevant in addressing issues faced by women in South Africa today.
Today Toni Maguire is an author of eight books, with Don’t tell mummy being a best seller. Her latest book is titled”Pretty maids all in a row” and just like the first seven, it does not disappoint.
In My Opinion by Gloria Motsoere 