Song for Sarah

In his most personal and intimate book to date, Jansen, South Africa’s beloved professor, contemplates the stereotypes and stigma so readily applied to Cape Flats mothers as bawdy, lusty and gap-toothed — and offers an endearing antidote: a praise song to mothers everywhere who raise families and build communities in difficult places.

As a young man, Jansen questioned how mothers managed to raise children in trying circumstances, and then realised that the answer was right in front of him: Sarah Jansen, his own mother.

Tracing her early life in Montagu and the consequences of apartheid’s forced removals, Jansen unpacks how strong women managed not only to keep families together but also to raise them with integrity.

With his trademark delicacy, humour and frankness, Jansen follows his mother’s life story as a young nurse and mother of five, showing how mothers dealt with their pasts, organised their homes, made sense of politics, managed affection, and communicated core values — how they led their lives. As a balance to his own recollections, Jansen has called on his sister, Naomi, to offer her own insights and memories, adding special value to this touching personal memoir.