The Madams has put Zukiswa Wanner in a position that no other woman in South Africa has been in – she is the author of the first book of black chick lit.
Touted as ‘a wildly provocative novel’, The Madams follows the life of Thandi, an upper-middle-class businesswoman living in Joburg with her husband and child. She exists within her core group of best friends (Lauren and Nosizwe) and their weekly champagne brunches, braais and shopping sprees.
The Madams begins just as Thandi decides to ‘give in’ and get a maid. But not just any maid, a white maid. Her reasoning? If she’s going to have to boss someone around, she doesn’t want it to be a ‘sister’. And she enjoys inverting racial expectations.
At heart, though, this is not a racial story, but one of love and betrayal, as all three women battle with their husbands and the choices they make. It is perhaps a disheartening view of marriage, and a dramatic one, but it offers a slice of life of the ‘black diamonds’ (an elite group of big spenders) living in Joburg. And while, as all chick lit books, it is tinged with the brush of excess, there is enough intrigue to keep the reader going right until the end.
All in all, an enjoyable read in a genre that is sure to start blossoming soon.
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