Dark Night of the Soul

Those who have read the first two books of the Brigid O'Meara trilogy would have shared in the many struggles and challenges which this intelligent young Irish immigrant faced since arriving in Pretoria in 1895. When we meet her in the third book we initially see a loving mother and wife, believing that she has finally found a safe place to start a new life for her family. But we are soon to ask, how is it possible that within this secure, loving milieu could she possibly find herself drawn into a situation where her values and self-worth are destroyed? How could she find herself consumed by evil in attempting to help a woman who had allegedly made a pact with the Devil? Brigid's story is broadly-based on a true case study of a 16-year-old Zulu girl living in a Catholic mission station on the south coast of KwaZulu- Natal, who in 1906 made a pact with the Devil. Although the veridical evidence of her story is documented, the characters of Brigid and Nomsa in the book merely parallels her experience in many respects.