Emma van der Vliet’s ‘Past Imperfect’ is a delightfully refreshing coming-of-age novel, which will have you giggling, gasping and groaning with despair. Almost impossible to put down — whether you’re lying in the bath, sitting on the toilet or supposed to be sleeping — it's thoroughly enjoyable.

Having finished her degree in set design, our heroine, Clementine, is wondering rather aimlessly through life. Earning a quite pitiful living making props for the university Drama school; living in the Soup Kitchen with her housemate and best friend Angus; having scandalously naughty chats with flamboyantly gay Jack and pandering to the whims of her self-indulged and pretentious boyfriend Kurt, Clementine seems to be waiting for life to happen.

And it does. Her foul-mouthed racist grandmother Mac has a stroke and Clem is forced to return home to Grahamstown — where she is met by her stern, unyielding and politically correct mother and her sassy, sexy aunt Maddy.

After a short-lived visit, Clem returns to Cape Town to discover that her beloved Jack has been charged with sexual harassment by one of his students and that her boyfriend Kurt may or may not be having an affair with one of his devoted disciples.

She does what any sensible girl would do — relocates to France. Armed with a scrap of paper containing the number of one of Jack’s bisexual friends, a place to stay and an emergency credit card, Clem begins her new life in Paris.

In discovering the city — its beauty, its arrogance, its flair, its overly sexual males and glamorous females, its stalwarts and its idiosyncrasies — Clem discovers herself. Her journey to self-awareness is filled with passion, laughter, sex, pain and eventually understanding.

Set in the mid-‘90s, the novel touches quietly on the transitional period in the history of South African politics. Subtly examining white guilt and responsibilities without making the novel overtly political, this work shows great promise for the future of South African literature.

Narrated in a witty and self-deprecating manner, with a spattering of expletives, politically incorrect terms and entertaining sexual encounters, ‘Past Imperfect’ is the best of guilty pleasures.