As the granddaughter of a very spiky woman who passed away last year, I loved finding the warmth in characters that were elderly, angry and not very nice. Although I don't think my Grandma was as mean as these strong female leads, she had a shop, made her own way and had a difficult relationship with her children.

The apartheid snakes itself through the text, coursing under the relationship between Marion and Hortensia, and it is an uncomfortable but I think important commentary on South Africa in the latter half of the 20th century, and how those issues continue to haunt the country today.