There’s no automatic right or wrong . . .

CHANTAL STEWART’S provides the reader with a total experience. This is a novel which goes beyond mere storytelling to probe deeply into the mysteries underlying so much of human experience, and which foregrounds the sheer fragility of our relationships and interactions with one another.

Main character Lena Brown is a geneticist who finds herself called upon to investigate an “outbreak of madness” among villagers in rural Swaziland (eSwatini). This conjures memories of her childhood, when her family from Cape Town would frequently spend time visiting her grandfather on his farm in Swaziland. She also finds herself confronted with the power of traditional philosophies vis-à-vis her modern “scientific” medical training, and realises that there is no automatic right or wrong.

At the same time, she has become involved in a delicate relationship with an academic astronomer, whose lure is irresistible but whose complexity and mystery keeps her unsettled. In a particularly moving scene in the book, she describes the break-up of her previous relationship, and cannot dispel the ongoing fear that this new relationship might go the same way.

Stewart’s meticulous prose is rich in imagery, and provides a satisfying medium within which the slow-building drama unfolds. This is a book to savour, one that will stay long in the reader’s memory.

The Veil of Maya is available at minimalpressbooks.co.za at R310. Charles Thomas