"...this is a novel for eveyone ...ambrac[ing] life in Botswana and the challenges involveed in growing up, confronting adult hypocrisy, poverty, abuse and exploitation." - Sheldon G Weeks, Mail & Guardian

‘An urgent message of female empowerment, of dialogue between men and women, between the young and the old, and between the traditional and modern ways of life.’
Keren Lavelle, Law Society Journal

‘To read Far and Beyon’ is to take a trip to Africa in the hands of a knowledgeable guide, who understands your world as well as knowing her own territory backwards.’ Keren Lavelle, Good Reading

‘Dow writes this world the way men and women in her country sing – with a zest fed by connection to the earth and to a shared past … The High Court Judge is an astute diagnostician of the ills – social, biological and political – of her country, and of Africa in general. With this book she will help to change things.’- Morag Fraser, The Age

Far and Beyon' tells the story of a Botswanan family struggle to cope with the devastation of HIV and poverty. Reeling from the loss of a second son from AIDS, Mara turns to traditional magic to fight the curse she believes is destroying her family. Her children, Mosa and Stan, increasingly reject such beliefs, choosing instead to fight the powerlessness and oppression that have made the family so vulnerable to HIV. In the process, they must challenge adult authorities and scrutenize the ways in which they unwittingly consent to the forces that constrict them.

A contemporary novel Far and Beyon’ relates the ongoing struggles of Mara’s family, giving a fascinating insight into modern African life, and the cultural cataclysm that enables families to live in poverty, wear NIKE, and die of AIDS. Unity Dow writes evocatively of village life, with a compelling and perceptually sensuous style.