“And your work – is it inspired by soul or conscience?”

“Damage.”

A writer from South Africa, Cara meets a Polish historian, Konrad in Paris, both trying to deal with scars of their complex pasts. Cara recovering from an affair with a famous painter, Lucas that ended tragically; Konrad still grieving over the death of the women he loved. There’s also Lucas and his wife Dagmar who have their own ghosts to deal with. All these characters’ journeys are touching and exquisitely written.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”  This book, although fiction, makes you hang on to that saying and you realise again how much truth there is to it.

Thank you to my friend Louis Wiid (Author of Submerged) for suggesting this book. I cannot remember when last I was moved this deeply by a book. The story evokes…