Before I Forget

Chris Minnaar is a distinguished South African writer who has lost his gift for the wordóthat is, until he experiences the last great love of his life. He first encounters Rachel, a sculptress, on New Yearís Eve. Rachel becomes the great love of his life, a love greater for being unfulfilled. When he loses her, Chris is ready to perform his final creative act: an assembly of the beautiful and ugly pieces of his existence, defined by the women he has loved. There have been numerous erotic affairs, tender relationships and a tragically ended marriage, all of which have left their indelible marks. Among them are Bonnie, his fatherís secretary; Grethe, who arranges for her many lovers to meet at a party in her absence; and Chrisís own mother, whose memory has faded in old age. Chris loves each woman uniquely, and his reflections convey a deep appreciation for their individual beauty and spirit. Erotic, candid and elegiac, Before I Forget is the history of a manís life set against the turbulent history of his nation. More than anything, however, it is a rich tribute to the power of love. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and twice short-listed for Englandís prestigious Booker Prize, AndrÈ Brink is one of South Africaís most distinguished novelists. He is the author of seventeen works of fiction and an outspoken recorder of South Africaís turbulent history from the days of apartheid to the present. He wrote the first Afrikaans book to be banned for political content. In 1992, Brink was awarded the Monismanien Human Rights Award for making known the injustice of apartheid to the wider world. He has also worked for over forty years as an academic and translator of works as varied as Mary Poppins and Shakespeare into Afrikaans.