Music teacher pens book
Durban author, Cecile Levin will launch her latest book, A Piece of Cake this weekend.
DURBAN writer, Cecile Levin, has published her book, A Piece of Cake, which will be launched on 9 November at The Durban Jewish Centre, KE Masinga (Old Fort) Road at 10.30am.
The book tells of Alison, who as recently divorced, and a hoarder and acknowledged procrastinator who hates change, this is all too much for her.
As she decides on the fate of family treasures, mere memorabilia or just plain rubbish, Alison remembers life as a schoolgirl in Pietermaritzburg in the 1950s, as a student and teacher in Cape Town, and as a wife, mother and grandmother in Durban in the twenty-first century.
Alison’s bossy older sister directs proceedings telephonically from ‘Maritzburg, her good friends advise her in Durban, and, from the couch, Joey, her eccentric cat,
makes wry comments on Alison’s progress – or lack thereof. In the end the job somehow gets done. A piece of cake!
“I’ve always loved writing and when at school and as a student I wrote short children’s stories for the Witness and The Sunday Times. I was paid 10/6 and 2 guineas respectively!” she said.
Cecile had a choice of studying music or journalism after school at Girls’ Collegiate School, Pietermaritzburg, and opted for music, writing short stories as a hobby.
Having published two music books for children and semi-retired from teaching music, she decided it was time to write for a different audience.
“The two main topics of discussion wherever I went seemed to be the agony of downsizing one’s home and ‘do you remember the old times?’ so I decided to combine them in this book! Inspiration came from this and the fact that we had just moved from our home of 35 years to a flat! I was lucky that, unlike Alison, my husband came with me!” said Cecile.
Cecile said writing this books was like being on a roller-coaster.
“It was wonderful and traumatic! Lots of hard work and perseverance! I have learnt so much! As this book took four years to complete I’m looking forward to writing short stories in future!” said Cecile.
Cecile and her husband, David, live in Durban. They have twin daughters and a son and seven grandchildren.
Her hobbies include studying Italian and Hebrew, cooking, reading, water aerobics and, of course, music.
The book is available from Adams Bookshops or from muffinpress@gmail.com
To RSVP for the book launch contact Cedric on 082 873 2702.
