Flenters van die Ewigheid: `n Perspektief op Linderverlies en Lewe- Koos Botha - (signed)

Signed by the author,  2016, softcover, Afrikaans text, 227 pages, condition: as new.

It is not just a description of the pain that accompanies the loss of a child, but a reflection on life and on the author's understanding of God. Much has been written about the raw grief after the loss of a child or children, including poetry, but this text is essentially unique. The author's unique power of expression and the way in which he lets the reader descend together into the depths of his misery make large parts of this book truly touching.

The author's language skills and his ability to articulate his deepest emotions are without a doubt the book's strongest positive feature. Botha possesses a special power of expression with a wealth of images. There are wonderfully moving passages. He writes skilfully about his own experience of depression, existential anxiety and also about bipolarity. The piece on soul paralysis is perhaps the most poignant I have ever read about this stage of grief. Next to the main theme, the raw grief, the development of his concept of God forms a kind of pantheism and in these days of open theological discussion can already be a reason for some readers to buy the book.

KOOS BOTHA worked for Die Vaderland until March 1962, then for eleven years for the SAUC news service and then again for 20 years for Die Transvaler until April 1993. His two youngest children, Daan (25) and Ruth (20) were born in February 1993 and were taken in a road accident at Winburg. . In the years that followed, he wrote about their deaths and this is bhis book about it.