Arts
AV Education — Brent Meersman’s compelling memoir, A Childhood Made Up, sees the author hurtle down memory lane to his childhood in Cape Town, where he grew up in a family where storms were constantly ranging. His father, Willy, had a hairlip, an alcohol-addiction and battled with depression. Brent’s mother, the captivating Shirley Meersman aka Shirley Morris, aka Sirrom aka Churley aka Sherli, leaps out of the pages. Shirley is an absentminded artist who is contemptuous of South Africans who think Picasso is a type of cheese. She also suffers from schizophrenia. A Childhood Made Up is a poignant and powerful memoir skilfully told with raw and gritty honesty, but Brent also has a light touch and there are times were you will laugh out loud. It’s a tale about pain and sorrow but it’s also a tale of recovery and redemption.