Local mom pens juvenile fiction
A GOODWOOD mother who felt the walls were caving in during the Covid19 pandemic wrote down her thoughts and is now ready to launch her own juvenile fiction book.
Charmaine Engelbrecht, 46, always had a love for writing, but never thought the pandemic would make one of her dreams come true.
The mother of four said her book, Esther the Warrior, has the pandemic as a backdrop to the story.
Engelbrecht said the book focuses on a girl named Esther and how she intends to complete her final year of high school amid a global pandemic left behind by a zombie attack.
“When the pandemic struck, my daughter was in Grade 12 and I decided to make use of that in the first chapter as she was trying to finish her final year, being worried, anxious.
“In the book, Esther is in this imaginary world and is on a mission with a team to the Earth’s core to prevent zombie attacks and the viruses they leave behind,” Engelbrecht said.
The character in the book has always been uninspired and terrified of the future, but her journey takes her to places she could never have dreamt of, and reveals her true strength.
Engelbrecht said writing was something she always loved and was passionate about. She has written poetry.
“I reached out to a publishing house in Johannesburg who assisted me in self-publishing and in the editing process. There are many publishers who assist authors wanting to selfpublish,” Engelbrecht said.
She said her support system, her family, had played an important role in the publishing of her book.
Her husband and children read her drafts and gave her pointers.