Fraud

Fraud is a powerful memoir about the unmasking of the self. 
It’s the tale of a young Jewish mother who is forced to examine a life of lies and deceit from behind bars until an unexpected encounter in the grimy prison gives Nikki her wings to fly free.

A peek between the pages:

‘The first two chapters of Part 1 opens with a literal bang. On 4 March 2009 at 5 am a drug squad, led by none other than Piet Byleveld, burst into the house that Nikki shared with her husband, “if-one-can-call-him-that”, Jake, and their two young children. She had been clean from her heroin addiction for 90 days at that stage, but Jake was barely above a drug-scavenging animal.

Chapter three rewinds time to Nikki’s childhood. The only sister and youngest sibling to three emotionally isolated brothers, she grew up in a dysfunctional family with a volatile, often violent, mother, and a father who died much too young. At the age of 16, she was introduced to Ecstasy, at 18 to cocaine, and thereafter it was a quick step towards heroin, masking severe emotional disarray and an undiagnosed eating disorder. Nikki turned 21 whilst incarcerated at the infamous Noupoort addiction treatment facility and experienced the trauma of the death of a fellow inmate, the 16-year-old Logan Klingenberg, who died whilst shackled to a gate. This is where she met Jake, the troubled son of a seemingly affluent Afrikaans family who would become her husband and the father of their two children. He was not only a fellow heroin addict, but he was also a narcissist with a special talent for gaslighting.’

In an interview with the Jewish Report Nikki said, “It’s all about light and bringing other people into the light. No one has to live in that darkness.”

A note from the Author:

This book intends to enable you to look at yourself, to love yourself, and to stand in a place of empowerment where your fears dissipate and you’re able to live a life of meaning and intention. Amid all the fluff around you – the cars, the houses, all the things that society elevates, the most important thing is to be able to look in the mirror and go, ‘I like you enough to want to get to know you better.’