A Tale Of Love, Lies And Liberation

EVA Mazza is a consummate storyteller, and her first two novels Sex Lies and Stellenbosch and Sex Lies Declassified were hugely successful.

She turns up the heat in her new book, Christine and she takes the setting away from Stellenbosch.

Christine is a hairdresser in Joburg in an abusive marriage. She reaches the point of needing to escape. Emboldened by the desire to unlock her life's shackles, she buys a ticket to Amsterdam where she has managed to arrange a job for herself as a hairstylist at a salon in an upmarket hotel there.

She soon settles into her newly liberated lifestyle and the pleasures of her new work and of living in a vibrant European city. Stimulated by her new life, she regains her self-confidence and soon opens up to the wonderful experiences Amsterdam offers and after meeting Giovanni, she loosens her sexual inhibitions along the way.

As one comes to expect from a Mazza novel, the story line in Christine is pacey and it is a colourful read. Sexy in parts, but not at all salacious.

There are twists and turns and surprises aplenty and of course, the pleasures of visiting Amsterdam.

Making Christine the book's narrator is a clever device and using it Mazza's involves the reader in the story line, and even has Christine talking to the reader. Christine is a story-driven page-turner and a rollicking, raunchy and enjoyable read.

It is told with a lot of wit and with compassion.

In each of her three books, Eva Mazza has shown considerable skill and talent.

Those who have been lucky to have attended one of her book launches, will probably suspect that we have only experienced the tip of what she has to offer.