Tag: An Unsuitable Woman

Life has dealt journalist Deborah Morsey a challenging hand. The traumatic dealings with South Africa’s apartheid police, devastating betrayals and failed love affairs make her feel like a stranger in her own life. Dancing with Nick, a widowed sheep farmer, at a friend’s wedding, she begins to see a new future. After a whirlwind courtship, she accepts his proposal and embraces the idea of becoming a farmer’s wife as well as the stepmother to his daughter, Sara. Opening a small pre-school on their property for the farm workers’ children gives Deborah a renewed sense of purpose while the forgotten love letters she finds hidden in her grandmother’s desk rekindle her innate romanticism. But the uninvited flashbacks to her earlier life and the secrecy around the circumstances of Nick’s first wife’s death are unnerving, and the everyday with Sara and her father is not as uneventful as she’d hoped it would be. Deborah’s weekly visits to her cousin Abi in Grahamstown give her some respite from the farm until she is introduced to human rights lawyer Sanjay, who makes her question everything she thought she knew about love.

A bold exploration of love in all its confusing guises, An Unsuitable Woman is the much-awaited second novel from the author of Under the African Sun.

Praise for An Unsuitable Woman

‘What happens when a young woman from the city suddenly marries a widowed farmer believing that he, his young daughter and country-living will cure her post-traumatic stress disorder and broken heart? Is it possible to sustain the role of traditional wife under any circumstances by simply willing it? What does she do when encounters, events and lingering looks remind her who she truly is and what she really wants? Heartbreaking, heartwarming, and oh-so very true, An Unsuitable Woman delivers a pitch-perfect tribute to the complexities of relationships, misplaced longing, and the general messiness of life. Gilbride excels in exploring how characters are shaped over time by politics, family dynamics and tragedy. An insightful, sharply observed gift of a book!’

– Penny Haw, author of The Invincible Miss Cust and The Woman and Her Stars

About the Author

GAIL GILBRIDE lives with her family in the Hemel en Aarde Valley, where she swims in the sea, writes, gardens and paints. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Rhodes) and a post-graduate diploma (UCT). She taught English, Sound Perception and Communication Skills. She also used to dance and mastering the Tango is still on her wish list. Gail is the author of Under the African Sun, a top ten finalist in the Author Academy Awards competition (USA) and Cat Therapy, an unplanned memoir. An Unsuitable Woman is her second novel.

Publication date: September 2026

ISBN: 978-1-0492-1511-2