Cohen de Villiers’ books put emphasis full-square on family abuse

SUZANNE BELLING

PHOTOGRAPH BY SUZANNE BELLING 

Marilyn Cohen de Villiers holding her two books.

“I started to realise the extent of the problem through the Community Policing Forum and the 16 Days of Activism. We always thought abuse happened in poor uneducated families. But it happens everywhere.

“The story is fictional, but it reflects a major problem. I created the Silverman family – led by Alan and Brenda. I googled the name Alan Silverman to ensure that there was no one by that name living here and was assisted by the research of Kim Lindy Serebro, who did a masters thesis on abuse.”

Says Serebro: “This research attempted to gain insight into the perspectives of Orthodox Jewish women regarding the abuse of women in heterosexual relationships, in their community. Feminist theory and social constructionism were utilised in order to facilitate greater insight into the roles of women in Judaism and the manner in which Jewish doctrine and ideology influences women who are abused by their husbands.

“The research focused on specific principles that are intrinsic to Jewish faith and identity. It also explored Jewish persecution and its influence on the formation and perpetuation of many of the Jewish customs and traditions as a means of preserving or upholding Jewish faith.”

Cohen de Villiers was further inspired by an international workshop on domestic abuse in Jewish communities around the world. This included a paper on Shalom Bayit, a shelter for abused Jewish women in Johannesburg by Brenda Solarsh (then the director of Social Services for the Johannesburg Chevrah Kadisha and co-founder of the Johannesburg Shalom Bayit project) and Jane Frankel (a social worker at Jewish Community Services, a division of the Chevrah Kadisha in Johannesburg).

But often, fiction, especially written with the depth of compassion and expertise of Cohen de Villier, is a more eloquent conduit to transmit to the hearts and minds of readers. It shocks the reader into believing the previously unbelievable and the book’s sequel “When Time Fails” hits home the consequences of the actions of some of the characters in the first novel.

The second book also deals with land restitution, which remains a much-discussed topic in South Africa today, a year after the launch of the book.

The themes of the two novels intertwine, but there are many unanswered questions, which the author intends to clarify in the third book in the trilogy which she has already started. “I haven’t even thought of the title yet,” she says. “But it is about assigning responsibility” and it ties up the loose ends.

Cohen de Villiers, who, when she was on the Students Representative Council at Rhodes University, where she attained a B Journalism and a BA Honours in English, was a staunch liberal, bridging the divide between the “radical and conservative” SRC members.

Her own experiences – six months in Israel on a kibbutz ulpan, backpacking through Europe, living in England and working on a moshav near the Gaza border – gave her the background which lends authenticity to “A Beautiful Family”.

“I was born and raised in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, the youngest daughter in an extraordinary happy, stable and traditional (rather than observant) Jewish family.”

Her writing career started as a journalist on The Citizen during the eighties. In 1996 she moved into public relations and now heads up the PR division at a marketing agency in Sandton.

* The books are available from selected bookshops, including some branches of Exclusive Books at $2,30 and from Amazon at $4,99.