Rhodes alumna launches first ‘chick lit’ novel
Rhodes University alumna Briony Chisholm, who survived a horror car crash while on her way home after finishing her degree, has defeated the odds despite the accident leaving her a quadriplegic and wheelchair-bound.
Now she has also written a book, which will be launched on Tuesday.
“I was very lucky to have a very supportive family and lots of friends,” Chisholm, 43, said of her ordeal in 1996.
“I am also, luckily, of a sunny disposition and have always been a bit of a ‘Pollyanna’ – an excessively cheerful and optimistic person.
“People brought me through – my family, my friends, my boyfriend at the time. I was young and ready for the world, so an accident was not going to stop me.”
Chisholm said it had taken her nine months to recover from the accident and to adjust to life in a wheelchair.
After graduating with her degree in pharmacy, Chisholm moved to Cape Town.
“I continued with my career as a pharmacist, working at the national HIV and TB hotline in Cape Town and pursuing my other love – writing. I published my first novel this year and I am going to Makhanda to do a book launch.”
Chisholm described her book, entitled One Night Only, as a fun, “chick lit” read.
“It took me about five years to write and edit it properly, with large gaps of ignoring it in between.”
She said the book was not based on her personal experiences.
“It’s fiction, though I think any book, fiction or non-fiction, has bits of real life in it. I am nothing like the main character, though, and neither is her family anything like mine.
“I like reading books that are familiar, so I wrote a character that I’d like to meet for a glass of wine after work,” Chisholm said.
A summary of the book reads: “One Night Only, set in Cape Town, chronicles the life of 33-year-old Sarah Trafford, who has sworn off committed relationships after her last failed affair. In the book exists a familiar world of lascivious bosses, heartbreakers and clingers-on.
“While we are asked to consider the meaning of ‘ever after’ within the levity provided by Sarah’s antics, the story is fun, humorous and entertaining; it allows us moments of letting go with the comfort of an exit.”
Chisholm said she was currently studying for a postgraduate diploma in HIV and TB management through the University of Cape Town, while also attempting to finish her second book, which she said was going to be very different from One Night Only.
The book’s launch is expected to take place on Tuesday at the National English Literary Museum from 6pm.
Asked what she would say to people going through difficult times, Chisholm said: “There’s no answer to this. Each person has a different experience, different circumstances, a different outlook.
“If I were forced to say something, it’d be to focus on the things you have control over, not the ones you don’t. And eat cake.”
Chisholm said it had taken her nine months to recover from the accident