Good Morning, Mr. Mandela - Hardcover

La Grange, Zelda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525428283 ISBN 13: 9780525428282

Publisher: Viking Pr, 2014

Synopsis

“In Good Morning, Mr. Mandela, Zelda la Grange recounts her remarkable life at the right hand of the man we both knew and loved. It's a tribute to both of them—to Madiba's eye for talent and his capacity for trust and to Zelda's courage to take on a great challenge and her capacity for growth. This story proves the power of making politics personal and is an important reminder of the lessons Madiba taught us all.”
—President Bill Clinton

“President Nelson Mandela’s choice of the young Afrikaner typist Zelda la Grange as his most trusted aide embodied his commitment to reconciliation in South Africa. She repaid his trust with loyalty and integrity. I have the highest regard for her.”
—Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

“Zelda la Grange has a singular perspective on Nelson Mandela, having served as his longtime personal aide, confidante and close friend. She is a dear friend to both of us and a touchstone to all of us who loved Madiba. Her story of their journey together demonstrates how a man who transformed an entire nation also had the power to transform the life of one extraordinary woman.”
—Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary, actor, producer of Invictus

A white Afrikaner, Zelda la Grange grew up in segregated South Africa, supporting the regime and the rules of apartheid. Her conservative family referred to the imprisoned Nelson Mandela as “a terrorist.” Yet just a few years after his release and the end of apartheid, she would be traveling the world by Mr. Mandela’s side, having grown to respect and cherish the man she would come to call "Khulu," or “grandfather."

Good Morning, Mr. Mandela tells the extraordinary story of how a young woman’s life, beliefs, prejudices—everything she once believed—were utterly transformed by the man she had been taught was the enemy. It is the incredible journey of an awkward, terrified young secretary in her twenties who rose from a job in a government typing pool to become one of the president’s most loyal and devoted associates. During his presidency she was one of his three private secretaries, and then became an aide-de-camp and spokesperson and managed his office in his retirement. Working and traveling by his side for almost two decades, La Grange found herself negotiating with celebrities and world leaders, all in the cause of supporting and caring for Mr. Mandela in his many roles.

Here La Grange pays tribute to Nelson Mandela as she knew him—a teacher who gave her the most valuable lessons of her life. The Mr. Mandela we meet in these pages is a man who refused to be defined by his past, who forgave and respected all, but who was also frank, teasing, and direct. As he renewed his country, he also freed La Grange from a closed world of fear and mistrust, giving her life true meaning. “I was fearful of so much twenty years ago—of life, of black people, of this black man and the future of South Africa—and I now was no longer persuaded or influenced by mainstream fears. He not only liberated the black man but the white man, too.”

This is a book about love and second chances that honors the lasting and inspiring gifts of one of the great men of our time. It offers a rare intimate portrait of Nelson Mandela and his remarkable life as well as moving proof of the power we all have to change.

About this title

Review:

Zelda la Grange has a singular perspective on Nelson Mandela, having served as his long-time personal aide, confidant and close friend. She is a dear friend to both of us and a touchstone to all of us who loved Madiba. Her story of their journey together demonstrates how a man who transformed an entire nation also had the power to transform the life of one extraordinary woman (Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary, Actor and Producer of "Invictus")

Uplifting. . . generally charming, occasionally faintly indiscreet, but always reverent. Surely no one but Mandela - with the possible exception of the Duke of Edinburgh - could have got away with greeting the Queen with a cheery: "Oh Elizabeth, you've lost weight!" And it is fun to learn that the former leader of the ANC's guerrilla army maintained a rigorous skin-moisturising regime in prison and beyond. When the manufacturers of Mandela's favourite preparation, Palmer's Body Lotion, ceased production in South Africa in the 1990s, elaborate measures had to be taken in the presidential office to procure supplies from America (Sunday Times)

A searingly honest, moving and entertaining account of her years orbiting President Nelson Mandela . . . an excavation of white (particularly Afrikaner) identity and one woman's painful blossoming of a deeper consciousness. . . . Between the rich anecdotes of Madiba's numerous encounters with the world's powerful, wealthy and (in)famous - which she witnessed at close range - as well accounts of his personal quirks, virtues, foibles and torments, La Grange's book sets out her own journey from naïve, completely unaware, conservative white South African to more conscious human being (Daily Maverick)

A delightful, delicious read packed with anecdotes (John Carlin)

Compelling and ultimately heartbreaking ... her unguarded honesty allows her to tell a remarkable story (Telegraph)

About the Author:

Zelda la Grange was born in 1970 in Boksburg, South Africa, and began working as a secretary for the South African government in 1992, in the Department of State Expenditure. In 1993 she moved to the Human Resources division, and in 1994 she joined the office of the first democratically elected president of South Africa as a senior ministerial typist. She became one of President Mandela’s three private secretaries in 1997. In 2002 she left government and became a full-time employee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Zelda la Grange was born in 1970 in Boksburg, South Africa, and began working as a secretary for the South African government in 1992, in the Department of State Expenditure. In 1993 she moved to the Human Resources division, and in 1994 she joined the office of the first democratically elected president of South Africa as a senior ministerial typist. She became one of President Mandela’s three private secretaries in 1997. In 2002 she left government and became a full-time employee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Pr
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0525428283
• ISBN 13: 9780525428282
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368