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got.no.secrets
A South African copywriter is transplanted to the urban jungle of Manhattan. A recovering rape victim tries to resume a normal life. A Toronto nurse cuts herself to fill her emptiness. Through the short stories of this collection and the distinct resonance of each narrative voice, the private lives of twelve different women are explored with only one question in mind, What is it like to be them? From addiction to abuse, childhood to suicide, and from Johannesburg to downtown Toronto, the prose of the stories is compassionate, provocative, and often funny but always fearless.
- GenresShort Stories
141 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Danila Botha
8 books59 followersDanila Botha is the author of the critically acclaimed short story collections, Got No Secrets, For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I’ve Known, which was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award, The Vine Awards and the ReLit Award and most recently, Things that Cause Inappropriate Happiness. Things that Cause Inappropriate Happiness won an Indie Reader Discovery Award for Women's Issues, Fiction, and was a finalist for the Canadian Book Club Awards, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and the National Indie Excellence Book Awards. She is also the author of the award-winning novel Too Much On the Inside, which was optioned for film by Pelee Entertainment. Her new novel, A Place for People Like Us will be published in Sept 2025.
Her first graphic novel, Vidal, which she wrote and illustrated will be published in 2026 by At Bay Press.
She is always working on new short fiction.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 10, 2012
I liked Botha's clean writing style but the stories didn't grab me. While they're about 12 different women with different issues - drug addiction, cutting, etc etc - the majority of them felt like I was reading the same story again and again. My So-Called Date was an exception - a quiet gem of a story.
December 18, 2011
This book was a lot better when it was named Loath Letters and I had written it.
November 23, 2023
The writing was ok but found the characters essentially so self centred & self defeating that it was a chore to complete the book.
March 18, 2014
This book of twelve short stories really packs a punch. Danila Botha, has worked as a volunteer with Na-me-res, an organization benefiting the homesless, which is where many of the stories derived. These are confronting stories about drug dependency and surviving in a city.
The reader can really get inside the skin of young adults going out and partying, loosing themselves completely, going on what seems to be an inevitable downward spiral of self abuse and self loathing. This book is brutally honest. The parents in these stories are either too self absorbed to notice their children sliding into drug dependency and the life it creates, or are themselves abusers, being the catalyst for their offspring’s descent.
This excerpt from Paradox gives you a glimpse of the profound effect of these remarkable stories.
It begins; ‘When I look up all I see is the dull grey of everything – the buildings, the sidewalk, the garbage cans behind me. If this is what it’s like to come down, all I want to do is go back up.’
Then ends; ‘I’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel anything at all. I stare out the window. All everyone wants, I think, is to feel, to experience, to really see. But when you actually do, you realize something: it’s really not that exciting. You can fill your life with more and more, but you can be left with less than what you started with.’
The stories carry a message of hopelessness but also of hope. There are those who have found a way out of their mire to learn to cope with the world again. ‘Don’t talk junk’ is a great example of this, it ends; ‘Coming clean was possible. Maybe a future is possible. We both stare ahead, into the distance.’
Here, as is the case in any community now, drug addiction of all kinds is rife. This book serves as a wakeup call for those like me who feel safely at a distance from this world.
http://tightropebooks.com/got-no-secr...
Merged review:
This book of twelve short stories really packs a punch. Danila Botha, has worked as a volunteer with Na-me-res, an organization benefiting the homesless, which is where many of the stories derived. These are confronting stories about drug dependency and surviving in a city.
The reader can really get inside the skin of young adults going out and partying, loosing themselves completely, going on what seems to be an inevitable downward spiral of self abuse and self loathing. This book is brutally honest. The parents in these stories are either too self absorbed to notice their children sliding into drug dependency and the life it creates, or are themselves abusers, being the catalyst for their offspring’s descent.
This excerpt from Paradox gives you a glimpse of the profound effect of these remarkable stories.
It begins; ‘When I look up all I see is the dull grey of everything – the buildings, the sidewalk, the garbage cans behind me. If this is what it’s like to come down, all I want to do is go back up.’
Then ends; ‘I’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel anything at all. I stare out the window. All everyone wants, I think, is to feel, to experience, to really see. But when you actually do, you realize something: it’s really not that exciting. You can fill your life with more and more, but you can be left with less than what you started with.’
The stories carry a message of hopelessness but also of hope. There are those who have found a way out of their mire to learn to cope with the world again. ‘Don’t talk junk’ is a great example of this, it ends; ‘Coming clean was possible. Maybe a future is possible. We both stare ahead, into the distance.’
Here, as is the case in any community now, drug addiction of all kinds is rife. This book serves as a wakeup call for those like me who feel safely at a distance from this world.
The reader can really get inside the skin of young adults going out and partying, loosing themselves completely, going on what seems to be an inevitable downward spiral of self abuse and self loathing. This book is brutally honest. The parents in these stories are either too self absorbed to notice their children sliding into drug dependency and the life it creates, or are themselves abusers, being the catalyst for their offspring’s descent.
This excerpt from Paradox gives you a glimpse of the profound effect of these remarkable stories.
It begins; ‘When I look up all I see is the dull grey of everything – the buildings, the sidewalk, the garbage cans behind me. If this is what it’s like to come down, all I want to do is go back up.’
Then ends; ‘I’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel anything at all. I stare out the window. All everyone wants, I think, is to feel, to experience, to really see. But when you actually do, you realize something: it’s really not that exciting. You can fill your life with more and more, but you can be left with less than what you started with.’
The stories carry a message of hopelessness but also of hope. There are those who have found a way out of their mire to learn to cope with the world again. ‘Don’t talk junk’ is a great example of this, it ends; ‘Coming clean was possible. Maybe a future is possible. We both stare ahead, into the distance.’
Here, as is the case in any community now, drug addiction of all kinds is rife. This book serves as a wakeup call for those like me who feel safely at a distance from this world.
http://tightropebooks.com/got-no-secr...
Merged review:
This book of twelve short stories really packs a punch. Danila Botha, has worked as a volunteer with Na-me-res, an organization benefiting the homesless, which is where many of the stories derived. These are confronting stories about drug dependency and surviving in a city.
The reader can really get inside the skin of young adults going out and partying, loosing themselves completely, going on what seems to be an inevitable downward spiral of self abuse and self loathing. This book is brutally honest. The parents in these stories are either too self absorbed to notice their children sliding into drug dependency and the life it creates, or are themselves abusers, being the catalyst for their offspring’s descent.
This excerpt from Paradox gives you a glimpse of the profound effect of these remarkable stories.
It begins; ‘When I look up all I see is the dull grey of everything – the buildings, the sidewalk, the garbage cans behind me. If this is what it’s like to come down, all I want to do is go back up.’
Then ends; ‘I’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel anything at all. I stare out the window. All everyone wants, I think, is to feel, to experience, to really see. But when you actually do, you realize something: it’s really not that exciting. You can fill your life with more and more, but you can be left with less than what you started with.’
The stories carry a message of hopelessness but also of hope. There are those who have found a way out of their mire to learn to cope with the world again. ‘Don’t talk junk’ is a great example of this, it ends; ‘Coming clean was possible. Maybe a future is possible. We both stare ahead, into the distance.’
Here, as is the case in any community now, drug addiction of all kinds is rife. This book serves as a wakeup call for those like me who feel safely at a distance from this world.
May 27, 2017
Picked up this collection of short stories browsing around at the library. They're all about women fighting their demons, often losing to them, but still managing to push forward in most cases. This female perspective is what attracted me to this work.
The stories are direct, dark and straight. The author does a good work getting you into the minds of the characters. I liked the descriptions and the feelings. I could empathize with the women. "Paradox", "Just Quietly Do It", "Heroin Heights" and "My so-called date" were my favorite. All are about great tribulations but have an embedded message of hope.
Like all anthologies, some stories are better than others. That is understandable. What I didn't like is that some themes overlap and you feel you've read the story before (girlfriend jealous of the guy's tall, thin friend).
My biggest issue is that some stories read like they are just another chapter about the same woman. It almost feels like you could rearrange the order and come up with a novela. This wasn't good at all.
The stories are direct, dark and straight. The author does a good work getting you into the minds of the characters. I liked the descriptions and the feelings. I could empathize with the women. "Paradox", "Just Quietly Do It", "Heroin Heights" and "My so-called date" were my favorite. All are about great tribulations but have an embedded message of hope.
Like all anthologies, some stories are better than others. That is understandable. What I didn't like is that some themes overlap and you feel you've read the story before (girlfriend jealous of the guy's tall, thin friend).
My biggest issue is that some stories read like they are just another chapter about the same woman. It almost feels like you could rearrange the order and come up with a novela. This wasn't good at all.
July 6, 2010
Danila Botha’s debut collection of short stories makes the personal
political. With clear diction, Botha’s prose packs a punch. There’s no
skirting the issue, masquerading behind metaphor or dancing between
the lines. The Halifax-based author sets many of her stories in
Toronto and South Africa (she was born in Johannesburg), she writes
fearlessly about rape (My So-Called Date), drugs (Don’t Talk Junk),
sex and rock n’ roll (Jesus Was a Punk Rocker).
Heavily influenced by Heather O’Neil, Bikini Kill and pop culture,
Botha explores the various shades of self-destruction. She avoids
tying up her stories in a bow. She trusts all darkness brings light,
though it isn’t always in plain sight.
political. With clear diction, Botha’s prose packs a punch. There’s no
skirting the issue, masquerading behind metaphor or dancing between
the lines. The Halifax-based author sets many of her stories in
Toronto and South Africa (she was born in Johannesburg), she writes
fearlessly about rape (My So-Called Date), drugs (Don’t Talk Junk),
sex and rock n’ roll (Jesus Was a Punk Rocker).
Heavily influenced by Heather O’Neil, Bikini Kill and pop culture,
Botha explores the various shades of self-destruction. She avoids
tying up her stories in a bow. She trusts all darkness brings light,
though it isn’t always in plain sight.
May 29, 2011
Sometimes I love reading books that take me far out of my comfort zone, and while Got No Secrets definitely did that, it didn't grab me in the way I wanted it to. The stories were gritty, dirty, scary and definitely got under my skin, but yet I didn't find they really resonated with me or stayed with me after the fact. These stories definitely packed a punch, but the pain left behind was only surface-level, without leaving any truly lingering bruises.
February 13, 2011
See what I think at www.theliterarylollipop.wordpress.com!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews