Full Body Shaking

It is not a shiver, it is not a shimmy. It is a full body shaking.

A woman dissociates after childhood abuse and goes on to live a glamorous life far removed from her small hometown in South Africa - and herself. She travels to Cape Town, Phuket, Dubai, Paris, Venice, Cairo and Munich, tying to find her place as a woman in the world. Being a pretty girl, many exciting opportunities open up to her and she moulds herself to fit each role, from film presenter to flight crew, fashion model to fetish dress-up, like a showgirl on a stage. Yet with every move and every smile, she keeps losing more of herself to the greedy hands of men who are drawn to her submissive and alluring beauty.

"The more I sleep, the more I can start over when I wake up. Refresh. Rethink. Colour my hair pink."

For Poppie Poggenpoel, life does not go on as usual. She can be anything she wants to be, except herself. Part battered small-town girl, part alluring traveller, her search for the right look has her doing whatever it takes to shake the hollow feeling. From behind layers of doll-eye mascara she transforms herself, only to take on everyone else's ideas of what it means to be enough. Will she find a safe place to be; a dancing, breathing human being-made of the same water and dust as everyone else? 

BONUS MATERIAL: 11 original illustrations, 5 easy recipes, 1 delicious cocktail idea