A love letter to Durban and all its flaws

PROLIFIC author Elana Bregin is launching a new novel, Station Life Repair, which focuses on the intersection of lives and events, choices and circumstances of a series of characters living and working in Durban.

- ILLA THOMPSON

One seldom reads a book, deeply rooted in a contemporary Durban which is cognisant of this city’s multilayered complexities. Station Life Repair is a love letter to all that is joyful about the city, while not hiding the darkness in the shadows. The story has an array of well-developed characters covering the spectrum of people you find in Durban — a wise, heroic, engaging black therapist; a white woman trying to craft authentic life choices; passionate African foreign nationals trying to assimilate themselves into inner-city life and contribute meaningfully to their adopted home; an eccentric but empathic Indian vendor at the morning market; a feisty and outspoken older woman living with deep scars and rage; and a grumpy, harassed but bighearted single parent with his own demons to purge.

Bregin, as a writer inspired by the city she lives in, always finds huge empathy and resonance towards all the citizens of her city. Her novels unpack how Durbanites of different backgrounds engage with each other and find commonality and connection in the face of “othering”. She finds interest in setting opposing characters against each other and allowing circumstances to enable them to find a way to meaningfully connect - breaking down stereotypes in the process.