
Because I Love You
Three Women, Three Stories
Joy Watson(Author)
Jonathan Ball Publishers SA
Published on 20. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-77619-490-2 (ISBN)
Description
I was here. This happened. It mattered. And now, I am ready to carry on. This is not a book about breakups. It's about erasure. About the quiet harm that can live inside love, the kind that doesn't leave bruises on the skin but rewrites the architecture of your mind. It's for anyone who's wondered whether they were overreacting, too sensitive, too much, too little. Anyone who has asked, 'Am I the problem?'
Joy Watson's exquisite excavation of the female psyche traces the inner lives of three women: Zara, Mira and Thuli. Their stories unfold in fragments, with beginnings, middles and endings that are not always clean, and are interwoven with reflections from the author's own experience. These are real stories, lightly fictionalised to protect those who lived them.
If you have ever felt lonelier in a relationship than you were on your own, this book is for you. And as you begin again, you are not alone.
Joy Watson's exquisite excavation of the female psyche traces the inner lives of three women: Zara, Mira and Thuli. Their stories unfold in fragments, with beginnings, middles and endings that are not always clean, and are interwoven with reflections from the author's own experience. These are real stories, lightly fictionalised to protect those who lived them.
If you have ever felt lonelier in a relationship than you were on your own, this book is for you. And as you begin again, you are not alone.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Johannesburg
South Africa
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
327 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77619-490-2 (9781776194902)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2026
Jonathan Ball
€19.99
Available for download
Person
Joy Watson is a researcher and writer whose work brings together feminist research, storytelling and analysis to explore gender, power and violence against women. She collaborates with organisations including the Sexual Violence Research Initiative and Rape Crisis, and is Book Editor-at-Large at Daily Maverick. Watson is the author of the novel The Other Me.