Confessions of a Gambler by Rayda Jacobs

• Cape Town Central Library, South Africa

"The first thing I have to confess is that I'm a Muslim woman. I'm forty-nine. I wear two scarves…when you pass me on the street, you won't even glance my way. I'm one of those robed women who appear to be going nowhere. The second thing I have to confess is that I like risk"
From the moment she opens her mouth, Beeda is honest about the double life she leads. The story that unfolds is one of a daring, independent-minded woman with a sizzling sensuality, who is also a pious mother of four sons - a mother who challenges the prejudice of her community when her favourite son contracts Aids.
Beeda's love for risk-taking manifested itself early, at school. Unable to resist a challenge, "to get back the things that I've lost", unintimidated by convention, she gets herself embroiled in all kinds of intrigue: an illicit affair, a terrible addiction to gambling.
Confessions of a Gambler presents us with a larger than life character who with confidence and humour shares the innermost secrets of a woman who, marked by betrayal and loss, takes us on an exhilarating ride.

Rayda Jacobs, born in Cape Town, South Africa, moved to Canada in 1968. She published her first work The Middle Children, a collection of short stories in 1994, before returning to South Africa in 1995. She is the author of three previous novels, Eyes of the Sky, The Slave Book and Sachs Street.