Family secrets run deep for Grace, a young girl growing up in Cape Town during the 1980s. Her family secrets spill over into adulthood, and threaten to ruin the respectable life she has built for herself. When an old childhood friend emerges after disappearing a decade earlier during a clash with apartheid riot police in the Cape Flats, where South Africa's coloured community makes its home, Grace's memories of her childhood come rushing back, and she is confronted, once again, with the loss that has shaped her. She has to face up to the truth or continue to live a lie-but the choice is not straightforward. Unmaking Grace is an intimate portrayal of violence, both personal and political, and its legacy on one person's life. It meditates on the long shadow cast by personal trauma, showing the inter-generational imprint of violence and loss on people's lives.

300 review copies (150 prepub, 150 postpub) sent to reviewers, booksellers, librarians, bloggers, others. Available as an e-ARC on Edelweiss & Netgalley. 3-week, 15-blog blog tour with book giveaways. Goodreads and Library Thing giveaway. We will seek to host an author Q&A chat on Goodreads. Promotion at book fairs and trade shows. Promotion in the 2019 Reading Group Choices guide for book clubs. We will seek blurbs from Tayari Jones, Merle Collins, and Yvette Christianse. We will submit the book for relevant and applicable awards. In collaboration with the author, we will plan twitter chats, Facebook Live, a Caffeine.tv chat, guest blog posts, and outreach to book clubs. We will include a book club guide online and in the back of the book. Promotion online via Catalyst's website, email lists (in development) and social media (blog, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) with author and publisher interviews, chats, and guest posts. Simultaneous e-book and print release.

About the Author
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Barbara Boswell is an educator and literary activist. She is an alumna of the Women's Studies Program at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she lived for several years, and has taught at universities in both the USA and South Africa. Barbara is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Cape Town, where she teaches Black women's diasporic literature, African feminist literary theory, and gender and sexuality.

Reviews
"The novel creates drama while confronting intersecting systemic oppressions and intergenerational trauma by foregrounding its characters' needs, wants, wounds, and aspirations. The prose is taut with both clarity and complexity. A smart, compassionate portrayal of one woman's quest to end the cycle of violence." -Kirkus Reviews


Awards
Winner of Debut Prize, 2017 University of Johannesburg Prizes for South African writing 2018 (South Africa). Long-listed for Sunday Times (South Africa) Literary Award 2018 (South Africa).



Book Information
ISBN 9781946395238
Author Barbara Boswell
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Catalyst Books
Publisher Catalyst Books