She Left Me the Gun

THE PENGUIN PRESS

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014, USA

USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

First published in Great Britain by Faber and Faber

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint an excerpt from The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson. Copyright © 2001 by Anne Carson. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. and The Robbins Office. Any third party use of this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited. Interested parties must apply directly to Random House, Inc. for permission.

Photographs courtesy of the author

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication

Brockes, Emma.

She left me the gun : my mother’s life before me / Emma Brockes.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-101-61785-4

1. Brockes, Pauline Dulcie—Childhood and youth. 2. Brockes, Emma—Family. 3. Mothers and daughters—Biography. 4. Child sexual abuse—South Africa—Case studies. 5. Abusive men—South Africa—Case studies. 6. Fathers—Violence against—South Africa— Case studies. 7. South Africa—Biography. 8. Brockes, Emma—Travel—South Africa. 9. South Africa—Description and travel. I. Title.

CT1929.B76B76 2013

968.0009’04—dc23

2012039706

Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.