The former partner of the late RTÉ presenter Gerry Ryan has written a memoir which also deals with her life as a South African diplomat.
Melanie Verwoerd, a former South African ambassador to Ireland, started writing the book several years ago. “Gerry was very encouraging and I made a promise to him that I would talk about him in the book. It was mainly going to be about my political and professional life. Obviously that all came to an abrupt halt when Gerry died.
“The book is not [solely] a book about Gerry, it is a book about my life.”
Born Melanie Fourie, she married into the family of the late South African prime minister, Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, the “architect of apartheid”.
She experienced much opposition from her husband’s family and her peers when she became an ANC activist and then an MP in the new parliament. She separated from Wilhelm Verwoerd in 2005.
The book When We Dance, published by Liberties Press, is due out in October.