No Ordinary Life: Awakenings in the Final Days of Apartheid, Paperback/Mary Ann Byron

Descriere

Description NO ORDINARY LIFE A TRUE STORY At 29, Mary Ann Byron and her husband, a special agent, embark on a two-year assignment to the U. S. Embassy in South Africa. Working with Ambassador Princeton Lyman during a critical time when a continued campaign of economic sanctions from the international community has pressured President F. W. de Klerk to negotiate with recently-freed Nelson Mandela to end apartheid with the end goal of democratic government. The transition from single to multi-party rule brings conflict, bloodshed as on-again, off-again negotiations create a culture of violence. Uncertainty about the future hangs like a cloud cover over the South African heat. It is into this powder keg environment that Mary and Patrick arrive in Cape Town in August 1992 on their first diplomatic mission as a couple. A Special Agent in Diplomatic Security, Patrick must protect the Ambassador Lyman and the American community. Negotiations have broken down again after the latest massacre, the black townships are embroiled in gang warfare, and Americans lives have been threatened. Patrick immerses himself in work while Mary is left to find her way. Stripped of her name and identity, Mary--Mrs. Mc Ghee to the State Department--is denied permission to work in her field of public relations due to the current high risk. She refuses to be shuffled into passive domesticity as a 'trailing spouse'. Mary lands a job at the American Embassy. But the unrelenting stress of Patrick's job along with the constant threat of danger for both he and Mary--including surveillance 24/7 by National Party spies--takes a toll on the marriage. A growing malaise settles between them. When an American young woman is murdered by a black mob outside Cape Town, Mary is shaken to the core. The American community is on edge. After yet another massacre, Patrick insists Mary learn to shoot. But no gun can protect her when the Hard Rock Cafe is bombed killing and injuring many. Everything in Mary's world is falling