Book Review – Meadowlands Dawn by Jo Beall @Epoque_Press

About the Book

Imprisoned by the apartheid regime in South Africa, Verity Saunders endures the daily degradation of her incarceration whilst coming to terms with the disappearance of her activist lover, Tariq Randeree.

Thirty years later, Verity sets out to uncover the truth about her past and to confront those who brutalised and betrayed her. As secrets are exposed she learns that in order to truly heal she must embrace the path of forgiveness.

Format: ebook (193 pages) Publisher: époque press
Publication date: 30th October 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

From its very first line, Meadowlands Dawn plunges the reader into the nightmare world of being a political prisoner in apartheid South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s when militant resistance to the regime was at its height provoking the authorities to respond with brutal crackdowns on those involved.

Following her capture whilst acting as decoy for a mission, Verity is placed in solitary confinement under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act, legislation which allowed for indefinite detention. ‘No trial, no visitors, no letters, no parcels, no timepiece, no reading matter, no recourse to lawyers, no charges brought, no end in sight.’ From her fetid cell she is taken for exhausting interrogation sessions and is subjected to intimidation and physical abuse. Some of the latter has life-changing consequences. From her cell, she can sometimes hear other inmates undergoing torture. Although she tries to stay strong and resist providing the information the authorities seek, her imprisonment takes a psychological toll and she reaches breaking point.

Thirty years later, following the death of her husband after a long and happy marriage, Verity returns to South Africa in an attempt to try to discover what happened to her fellow activists, in particular her lover Tariq Randeree . She clings to the hope that he is still alive whilst at the same time wondering if he abandoned her all those years ago. And she’s haunted by things revealed during her interrogation, the result of covert surveillence. Were they true or concocted in the hope she would betray her comrades?

Her other objective is to confront those responsible for the cruel treatment she received in prison and to find out why they did what they did. Her relentless determination to hunt them down gives a glimpse of that determined young white woman who became an anti-apartheid activist despite the dangers, who flouted segregation laws to be with the man she loved – ‘They couldn’t go to movies, restaurants, bars, or clubs together. Every venue was delineated by race’ – and was shunned by her family as a result.

Will she find genuine contrition for her treatment or a refusal to accept responsibility because it was just a job, they were only following orders? Will some remain unrepentent, their positions of authority having given free rein to their innate cruelty?

Meadowlands Dawn sheds light on a violent period in the history of South Africa but it’s also a moving story about laying to rest the ghosts of the past. The fact it is based on the author’s own experiences makes it all the more powerful. I hope there will be more from this author because Meadowlands Dawn is an impressive debut.

My thanks to Sean at époque press for my digital review copy. You can listen to Jo reading an excerpt from the novel here.

In three words: Powerful, authentic, moving

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About the Author

Jo studied English Literature and History before completing a PhD in Geography at the London School of Economics. She taught international development at the LSE, was Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Cape Town and was Global Director of Education and Cultural Engagement at the British Council.

Meadowlands Dawn is Jo’s debut novel, inspired by her own experience as an activist and political prisoner under apartheid in South Africa. (Photo/bio: Publisher author page)