Rosa Burger

Rosa Burger is the central character and protagonist of the novel. The reader sees her develop from a 14-year-old girl bringing things to her mother in prison, to an adult. Rosa is a conflicted individual who never becomes a key organizer, player or agent in the anti-apartheid movement, but can never totally disassociate herself from it either. Early, Rosa understands that love can be used as a weapon, just as it can be bought and sold, though with real consequences. She successfully pretends to be the fiance of Noel de Witt, when he is a prisoner and needs someone to visit him and communicate back and forth with him. She is attracted to Conrad and becomes his lover, though at the same time her father Lionel Burger is on trial and about to be sentenced to life in prison. She hopes that Conrad can teach her how...