In 1969, South Africa's apartheid government arrested 22 anti-apartheid leaders and activists in an attempt to break their movement. Among those arrested were seven women, three of whom (including Winnie Madikizela-Mandela) have since died. This book by South African journalist Shanthini Naidoo uses rich interview material to share the previously untold stories of the four imprisoned women who are still living: Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin, Rita Ndzanga, Shanthie Naidoo, and Nondwe Mankahla. All the imprisoned women were held in solitary confinement in Pretoria Central Prison for more than a year and subjected to brutal interrogations and torture in an attempt to force them to testify against their comrades. "The freezing loneliness made one wish for death," Joyce Sikhakhane-Rankin, a journalist, later said of her time in solitary. But the women all refused to testify and as a result the prosecution eventually collapsed. Through her interviews with these four veteran activists, author Shanthini Naidoo explores how women from different oppressed communities in South Africa came together and, defying traditional gender expectations, played a key role in overthrowing apartheid.