Forbidden Love and Guilty Pleasures

by Ali Murray, Kabelo Mabaso (Illustrations), Dylan Seegers (Design)

Newly single, Jinny emerges from the ruins of a horror-show marriage. She’s almost penniless and her vengeful ex is out to destroy her. She fights to keep her kids, her business and her very life. But at last she’s free. She launches into a series of wild sexual liaisons while fighting the legal system and her ex’s fraudulent attempts at sabotage. The no-strings sex and open relationships feel good for a while, but gradually she realises there’s more to it… Who will Jinny end up with? Can she defeat her evil ex? Does she even need a man? All these questions are answered as Jinny finds personal fulfilment.Forbidden Love & Guilty Pleasures will entertain and resonate with women and all who have had to overcome challenges in trying to define themselves and to live their best life. A work of fiction, the story is written in an accessible, humourous style and from the first-person perspective of Jinny Gent, the damaged woman protagonist with reserves of strength and fortitude even she is unaware of – until she’s backed into a corner. Ali uses insights gained from counselling individuals and her own life and the struggles of many South African women to weave an inspirational tale of hardship and overcoming, of pain and pleasure, of love, fear and personal courage.Uniquely, the book also includes psychological assessments of the main character by a qualified psychologist to help contextualise her experiences and to give readers better understanding of behaviours that also occur in everyday South African life.

120 pages, Paperback

Published December 15, 2015