Brown Sugar

About the Book

“Brown Sugar is the biography of Clare King. Her life begins on an idyllic but remote sugar plantation in the 1940s. Together with her parents and six siblings, she had a very happy childhood. However, immortality and the grim reaper seemed to have been an impending presence in Clare’s life from the age of twelve, when she personally witnessed a distraught mother, carrying a dead infant on her back, seeking help for the internment of her child at the local Catholic convent as she was too poor to do this on her own. Like the first four notes of Mozart’s fifth symphony, the grim reaper (or Death, as we call him) was an impending presence in Clare King’s life. She learned to face this sting with great endurance. Death has claimed her parents, two siblings, three children, a few dear friends, and finally, her beloved husband, Hector. All her life she had to fight a battle with death and its scourge on her loved ones. She is now a great councilor to the bereaved. Brown Sugar pays tribute to Clare’s resilience and tenacity against this battle with death and dying. Clare King is a mesmerizing and informative storyteller” (Lorraine Richards).

About the Author

Clare King is a widow from Wentworth in Durban, South Africa. She was born in 1947, of biracial parentage in Mthubathuba on the north coast of Kwazulu-Natal. As a young girl, on the sugar plantation where she grew up, Clare King used to spend hours in the open fields fantasizing about being a famous actress or dancer. Her role models were Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. These dreams materialized when she took part in most school plays and concerts. She was even an extra in two local movies. She displayed her dance talent when she was first runner-up in the 1987 Hyperama dance contest. In 2013, she decided to write her biography as a legacy to her grandchildren so that they will know their heritage and be proud of it. Clare King is a phenomenal colored woman. She is able to embrace her strengths and accept her weaknesses. Her sweetness is refreshing to the senses. Clare King is Brown Sugar.