Modjaji Books

Maire Fisher sent this to me to post on the Modjaji Books Blog…

“There’s been so much discussion about Whiplash, and a great deal of that discussion has centred on Tess’s profession. It’s brilliant that this has taken place and that Whiplash adds a very human dimension to the debate about the rights and needs of sex workers.

“I have, as you know, been a huge fan of Whiplash since the day Tracey Farren asked me to be one of her early draft readers. I’ve seen the results of Francois Loots’s sensitive and perceptive editorial input, and I’ve added my tuppence ha’penny worth with content and copy-editing suggestions. Working with Tracey on various versions of her novel was an editing experience unlike any I’ve had. By the time the book was (fingers crossed) ready to go to print, I had abandoned all but the most basic rules of grammar and punctuation. Tess was in my head, and under my skin, and before I suggested a change I’d stop to think (as Tracey had done about every proposed change), would a woman who left school in Standard Eight use this word? Would she know about this grammar rule, that nicety of punctuation? I know Tess is bright and very quick, but would she know about hyphenating compound adjectives? The last is possibly the best example of how Tess was sweetly but implacably present from the first sentence to the last. There was no way, I had to accede with Tracey’s gentle guidance, she would write ‘slicked-back’ rather than ‘slicked back’.

“As all of this was happening, I read and re-read Whiplash, on the screen and on hard copy. And each time I did, I winced, I laughed, I wanted to cry. Tess’s voice as she tells her mother about a miraculous year in her life never became stale. More and more the conviction grew that Whiplash is not, as it has been described, a brutal book. Brutality happens, and tragedy. Parts of it are hard to read. Reality, especially the reality of a life like Tess’s can be harsh and cruel. But page by page Tess is there. Once she hooks herself into you (you should excuse the pun) you can’t let go of her. She forces you to smile when her life is unbearably bleak; her honesty, integrity and wry take on life are as much part of the book as is the impoverished landscape in which many events take place. So when I hear the words ‘gritty’, ‘harsh’ and ‘brutal’, I want to say, ‘No, no. It is that, but it’s not only that. There’s so much more to it.’ I want to add other words to the list so that the descriptions of Whiplash reflect the delicate balance of the novel.

“Because in Whiplash despair is countered by hope, evil by love, misery by humour, darkness by dancing and laughter and the light of the sun on the sea, bleakness by the flick of a belly dancer’s veil and the schick-schick of her hips.”

Thanks so much for sending this, Maire, I think after Tracey, you know the book best. You have all done such a wonderful job with getting the manuscript into its final book form. I am so proud to be the publisher of Whiplash. I had a wonderful experience at the Book Fair telling people about Whiplash, Tess and Modjaji Books.

Thanks too, to Ben and your team for deepening and widening the experience of the Book Fair for all of us, especially those who weren’t even there, and those who mostly had to be at their stands.