Arriving in South Africa just after Mandela’s release, French Canadian foreign correspondent Lucie Pagé fell in love with the politician Jay Naidoo. She then took the agonizing decision to leave her four-year-old son behind in Canada in order to marry Jay.
This frank and compelling memoir recounts her divided loyalties and struggle with depression against the backdrop of South Africa’s momentous transition. It includes portraits of prominent people such as Nelson Mandela, the Clintons and Fidel Castro.
“This is essentially a love story, a tug-of-the-heart tale of a woman torn between the man she falls in love with and her young son who are half a world apart. But it is also much more than that. Lucie Pagé brings a unique perspective to South Africa’s dramatic political transition—the perspective of an outsider on the inside. At intimate gatherings of the ANC elite Lucie was often the only woman in the room, the only white person, the only person under thirty, and the only foreigner. Her observations have the sharpness of a fresh eye with a close-up view.” Allister Sparks.