The Sweet-Smelling Jasmine

by Jenny Hobbs

Isabel, a South African in her early 50s, escapes from her carping husband to meet her lover, someone from her past whom she has only recently re-met. Set in present-day and 1950s South Africa, this novel straddles the emotions of a collapsing marriage and the powder keg of racial tension.

Genres: Fiction

409 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Fiona Storevik · Rating 1 out of 5]

As an ex-pat this was such a beautiful, evocative read. Words conjured up smells, visions and memories. Amazing read.

[Cathy Cowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having grown up in Durban during the apartheid era - I found this book spoke to my heart x

[Stephen Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A middle-aged suburban housewife, trapped in a marriage that has lost its lustre, meets a friend she had known as a teenager in a sugar mill town on the Natal coast, where she had gone to stay with her sister and brother-in-law after her father had died. Her friend has become a writer, and encourages her to write the story of the long-ago summer when they first met, which had begun with new friendships, her first love, and yet ended in horror, violence and death. Though the book is full of ordinary people, living ordinary lives, it is also an enthralling story about growing up in the 1950s, with teenage fears and anxieties, joys and embarassments.

[Colleen Mulrooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fell in love with these characters.
Loved the vibrant setting and its Hindu traditions.