117 Days

website activity

A powerful and gripping personal account of imprisonment and interrogation by one of the key figures of the anti-apartheid movement.

'Her life and her death remain a beacon to all who love liberty' NELSON MANDELA

An unforgettable account of defiance against political terror by one of South Africa's pioneering anti-apartheid activists.

'In prison you see only the moves of the enemy. Prison is the hardest place to fight a battle.'

117 Days is Ruth First's personal account of her detention under the iniquitous '90-day' law of 1963. There was no warrant, no charge and no trial - only suspicion.

This sparsely written and unique record tells of her experiences of solitary confinement, constant interrogation and instantaneous re-arrest on release - lightened by humorous portraits of governors, matrons, wardresses and interrogators, seen as the tools of the police state. This is the story of the war of nerves that ensued between First and her Special Branch captors-a work that remains a classic portrait of oppression and the dignity of the human spirit.