A Quilt of Dreams is stitched togeth­er with mem­o­ries of the past and dreams for the future. With fine style and craft the author uses the folk motif of quilts and the great oral tra­di­tion of African folk­lore to weave togeth­er, in a time­ly nov­el, the lives of Jews, Africans, and Afrikaans in South Africa. It is based on the actu­al series of events between 1985 and 1990 that led to the free­ing of Nel­son Man­dela, thou­sands of oth­ers, and the end of the era of apartheid. 

As we know, it was a long and rocky jour­ney. Each character’s sto­ry is com­pelling. For the old­er Jews, ghosts of Kristall­nacht hov­er every­where. It is an enor­mous chal­lenge to live in yet anoth­er coun­try with an uncon­scionable racial pol­i­cy. Life is often filled with sad­ness and remorse. For the new gen­er­a­tion, life is a quest for iden­ti­ty and mean­ing. It is fraught with the whole range of con­tem­po­rary issues, polit­i­cal and per­son­al. The Africans are deter­mined and brave. The ten­sion is every­where, but like the quilt, the pieces hold fast and we are able, thank­ful­ly, to look for­ward with hope. Glos­sary, notes.