Excerpt from the book:

John asked Ntombi, "Could we ever separate?"

Ntombi replied, "That can never happen. You irritate me a lot, but you are now part of me."

The author writes vividly, and with humour, about how he and Ntombi Lukhele fell in love in 1983, when they were both in exile. That relationship has endured to this day, despite state capture, Covid, and conflicting personalities and cultures. Their family backgrounds and their activist histories are revealed as the story unfolds, but this is essentially a love story for our troubled times. The book is richly illustrated with a photo section at the end of the book.

John Carneson was born into an activist family in South Africa in 1951. He graduated form the LSE in 1975 and later acquired a PhD. He has taught in Portugal, Mozambique, Tanzania and the UK, returning from exile with Ntombi to South Africa in 1993. After lecturing he held increasingly senior government posts until retiring. He and Ntombi have two children, Busi and Sipho. In 2021 he was awarded an MA in creative writing. Going forward he will focus on his writing, photography and his online business, TheGraspedImage.com. And of course, on Ntombi.

" I found that your voice came through in a lively way and you captured the personality and presence of Ntombi. There is a certain coherence and the vignettes are laced with your particular quirky, self-deprecating humour."

Linda Vergnani (a South African award-winning freelance journalist based in Australia)