Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is a woman revered and reviled in seemingly equal measure, a fascinating shadow to her former husband?s sainthood. Acclaimed as Mother of the Nation, Winnie has also been convicted of fraud and dogged by allegations of theft and murder. The kind of story any journalist would love to explore.

So a biography of this famous ? or infamous ? personality is long overdue, and author Anne-Marie du Preez Bezdrob neatly fills this gap.

Born into the influential Madikizela family in 1934, Winnie's given name was Nomzamo, meaning 'she who will endure trials'. She grew up to be proud, independent, hardworking, and fiercely intelligent ? all attributes she would need in order to survive what the apartheid government would throw at her. She spent her life surrounded by informers and betrayed by friends, constantly harassed by the security police.

As Bezdrob notes, Winnie defied social expectations throughout her life. She "was the daughter who should have been a son; the highly visible activist who should have been a demure and dutiful spouse; the tragic heroine who should have been an ingenue; the ex-wife who should have been First Lady".

Ironically, Winnie really seemed to come into her own only once apart from Nelson, becoming indispensable to the African National Congress. Despite, or perhaps because of, everything the government threw at her, she remained defiant and an inspiration to the ordinary people around her.

At one point, Bezdrob notes: "Nelson Mandela, who had been imprisoned in harsh conditions and forced to perform years of hard labour, said he had found his own brief encounter with solitary confinement ? three days ? 'the most forbidding aspect of prison life'."

Winnie spent thirteen months in solitary confinement, in addition to her torture, and Bezdrob suggests that it was this experience, and the post-traumatic stress disorder which resulted, that may explain Winnie's noted change in character.

As all of South Africa, and probably most of the world, now knows, Winnie was alleged to have ordered the abduction, assault and murder of Stompie Seipei, the murder of Dr Abu-Baker Asvat, and the abduction of Lolo Sono. She was also said to have participated in some of the assaults, and in fact admitted that 'things went horribly wrong' in testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Winnie's misdeeds nevertheless must have come as a surprise to those who knew the 'old' Winnie ? the Winnie who was a passionate social worker, who held her family and her community above herself, the Winnie who actively worked for change. There probably is no adequate explanation for why she turned away from her ideals, and Bezdrob's is as good as any.