PATTERSON’S Curse is a plant in the Western Cape of South Africa. It is pretty, tough and an alien, not welcome there.

Just like Kate Vantonde, an Englishwoman married to Pete, an Afrikaner. When he dies in a car crash, she is left to carry on her husband’s dream – despite the active opposition of his estranged mother, a viciously bigoted Afrikaner of the old school who hates Kate and hates her even more when she takes black friends into her home.

This is a wonderfully atmospheric novel. I was so drawn in to the dry and dusty atmosphere of South Africa that it was a shock to look up from the page and find myself in England. It’s even more surprising that Anne lives in the North-East, near Alnwick and her intimate, effortless knowledge of South Africa ad its subtleties is based on many visits to family there.

Although Anne is already a published and performer, poet and playwright, this is her first novel. Let’s hope there are more.