The Cardinals

Authors:

Bessie Head

With Meditations and Short Stories.
It is the 1960s in South Africa. Blacks and whites are segregated, in life and love. This is Mouse's world, but she is blind to it, living only for her books. A job as a reporter on African Beat forces her to open her eyes. Newsroom sexism combines with everyday stories of racial repression and political muck-raking to radically later Mouse's perceptions. But it is her relationship with the cynical newshound Johnney that is the greatest challenge to her loveless solitude. The Cardinals was one of Bessie Gead's earliest works. Like the other short pieces in this collection it is a passionate exploration of the effects of apartheid.