With (Out) You (Paperback)

This creatively touching work follows the true-life journey of a woman dealing with the sudden loss of her husband. The powerfully emotional narrative tells the story of Beryl Botman who reveals to Russel Botman how she is experiencing his sudden death and learning to cope with it. “How should she learn to live and recognise their love for each other in these new dimensions of existence?” is the central question of the heart-breaking one-way conversation.

The events take place from the moments before she realises that Russel has died until the day of the first anniversary of his death - the lapse of one year. It is for her the year in which she appeals to her deepest strengths, facing her most murky weaknesses and relying on her whole formation to take even one step.

The narrative takes place in three parts and begins with a day-by-day version of the first two weeks of experiences and sensations. The next two parts are weekly and then monthly revelations, respectively. Her spiritual and real exposure follow a journey from Stellenbosch to Wynberg and some other places in the world. Beryl handles life-changing decisions and actions in her world with the comfort and loving support of family and friends, while dealing with the hostility of other family members and the aloofness and rejection of friends and acquaintances at the same time.

It’s a turmoil of raw emotions, grief, acceptance and coping – going on with life, when life as you knew it, has ended.