Crossways

Set in a wealthy Johannesburg suburb in the late 1960s, Crossways is a family drama of love and grief. The heroine, Kate, returns from Paris to the family home ("Crossways") for the funeral of her sister Marion. Marion was killed in a car accident that left her husband, Louis, the driver, in intensive care. Amid sometimes loving, sometimes troubling reminiscences of her beloved sister, Kate begins to reflect upon the circumstances of Marion's fatal accident. From his hospital bed, Louis, who overcame a neglectful and impoverished childhood to become a prominent heart surgeon, recalls his early fascination with the glamorous, inseparable sisters. A third perspective is that of John, the Zulu man who essentially raised the sisters, manages Crossways, and keeps all its secrets. The more Kate learns about Louis, the more suspicious she becomes, until finally, her worst fears are confirmed and the novel moves to its shocking but inevitable conclusion.


Genre: Mystery

"There is a territory - fictional and psychological - that Sheila Kohler has now marked as her own. I am full of admiration." - J M Coetzee