Welcome
"It's the small histories that intrigue me, the untold stories that should not be forgotten."
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The Colour Of Flying
Late 1953 and Missy B - a three-year-old child who dreams of flying - faces events that turn her world upside down and shape the person she will become. Written from Missy B'ss point of view, this memoir is at times hilarious, at times poignant, but always so searingly real that one feels one shares her heartbeat.
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Out of mind
A story of Robben Island set in the years 1908 to 1909, during the period when the colonial government used the Island as a secure place of isolation for people with leprosy, and patients suffering from mental afflictions. Out of sight, out of mind, of the good people of Cape Town.
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Ida's Line
Oudtshoorn, South Africa, in the 1930’s and 1940’s - a time of rising fascism and racial hatred. Ida Joubert, who comes of age in this time, openly rejects the racist views of the prevailing society and comes into sharp conflict with the patriarchal views of her white, middle - class family. Matters come to a head as she faces a life-changing choice.
Meet Barbara…
Barbara Townsend is a writer devoted to uncovering and giving voice to overlooked stories.
Inspired by early mentors and a father who loved storytelling, her work explores memory, place, and the lives that history often leaves untold. She is the author of two historical fiction novels: Ida's Line and Out of Mind – a Story of Robben Island. Her latest book - The Colour of Flying - is a childhood memoir.
A former librarian, teacher, and educational writer, Barbara has long nurtured stories—her own and those of others.
She now travels to share her work and writes from a quiet study overlooking fields and mountains in Botrivier, where she is working on a collection of short stories.
