In this uniquely structured novel, the interwoven stories of a woman and her great-grandmother living in Cape Town, South Africa are artfully combined with a built-in workbook meant to teach creative autobiographical writing. Though the narrative explores gender, sexuality, morality, and colonialism in historical Cape Town, it also offers gentle, smoothly crafted, and insightful reflections meant to transform the life of the reader as a parallel to the protagonist's own growing confidence, skill, and courage as she connects with her past.

Foolish delusions is an adventure. Taking seriously the idea that writing can transform your life, the narrative works as a double helix. One strand explores the growing confidence, skill, and personal courage of a woman (Anna) who longs for connection with the past, and - through engagement with a writing course - finds this connection through extraordinary archaeological creativity (which demands the archive, the imagination, and uncovering of personal memories). The second strand unfurls the story of the ancestor to whom Anna is guided by her writing, an ancestor whose nineteenth-century life powerfully illuminates the meanings of gender, sexuality, and colonialism in Cape Town. Despite the philosophical complexity, the novel is gentle, smoothly crafted and full of insightful, delicate reflection. Those interested in writing will find the workbook lessons enable their own life-writing. Those wanting a 'good story' will discover in Anna's search for her ancestor a compelling and historically well-rooted tale of love, loss, and transcendence.