The Special Collections Book of the Week this week is:

The Verwoerd Who Toyi-Toyied by Melanie Verwoerd.

As a Stellenbosch schoolgirl, Melanie met Wilhelm Verwoerd, grandson of HF Verwoerd, and at the age of twenty she married him. In the turbulent early 1990s the two young Verwoerds did the unthinkable by joining the recently unbanned African National Congress. Disowned by family and friends and ostracized by the Stellenbosch community, Melanie persisted on her chosen path. She served in the first non-racial parliament under Mandela, an experience, often surprisingly funny, recounted here in full colour. Later, as South African Ambassador to Ireland and eventually head of UNICEF Ireland, she played on the world stage.  This is the story—poignant amusing and tragic in turns—of an extraordinary South African woman who made her own choices and lived her own truth.

Access: https://univofpretoria.on.worldcat.org/oclc/844298154

This book is available at Special Collections, housed on level 5 of the Merensky 2 Library, and is part of our Africana (ZA) Collection.

The Special Collections unit of the Department of Library Services plays a stewardship role in the acquisition and preservation of the Library's rare and valuable information resources, making them accessible to students, staff and researchers, as well as safeguarding them for future generations.