Irma Venter is the author of the new novel Red Tide, now available in an English translation from the Afrikaans by Karin Schimke. Venter's other books include Hard Rain. Also a journalist, she is based in South Africa.
Q: What inspired you to write Red Tide, and how did you create your character Jaap Reyneke?
A: I attended the Aardklop Arts Festival (in South Africa) some years ago, and one of our great export products, landscape artist Strijdom van der Merwe, had various installations scattered across the campus of the Northwest University. I don’t want to give the game away, but one piece involved a map, a red pencil on a string, and the power of the spring breeze.
This image marinated in my mind a while, until an idea emerged. When the time came to tackle the next manuscript, I put up a map of Southern Africa where I could see it every day and starting writing Red Tide.
As for Jaap Reyneke, I’ve come to suspect that he is an amalgamation of all the retired male detectives who have so generously assisted me with their knowledge over the course of my writing career. I owe them and every other source a great debt as they have managed to infuse my text with an authority I wouldn’t have been able to muster on my own.
Q: Cape Town Etc. said of the book that your “female characters are as richly rounded as male characters in thrillers usually are.” What do you think of that assessment?
A: I regard that particular one-liner as one of the great triumphs of my writing career. Since I started writing so many years ago, my single-minded focus has been on attempting to create the female equivalent of some the great male characters we’ve seen in male noir/thrillers.
I’ve never wanted to write about the nice girl everyone loves doing the right thing. I wanted to create real, rounded, complex female characters with the power to propel the narrative towards its natural conclusion – women who stay on the page till the last sentence.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: With this particular text I had a clear idea where my characters would go in terms of geography, as that required some meticulous planning.
As for the end? No, that came as a surprise. Throughout the writing process I had hoped that this particular cocktail of characters and settings would finally deliver some kind of ending that didn’t feel forced or unnatural in any way.
Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Jaap and your character Sarah Fourie?
A: They are complete opposites in many ways – age, background, education, career, gender (to state the obvious) – but they do share a moral compass and an innate stubbornness to find/see the truth.
Yes, Sarah is a convicted hacker, but she shares Jaap’s conviction to do the right thing, even though they may take different routes to the same destination. Also, Jaap does emerge as a father figure at the end.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My 11th Afrikaans book: Die Drie Weduwees. The Three Widows. This is the fourth book in a new series I started once I’d wrapped up the S-series, which included Red Tide.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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