Winnie Mandela was the fourth daughter of a prosperous family in the Transkei. Emma Gilbey traces her childhood, her growing political involvement, her marriage to Nelson Mandela in 1959, and the subsequent story of protest, of jails, of banning, of Soweto life - and of the formation of Mandela United. The Mandelas were together for less than a year when Nelson was imprisoned and Winnie's true political life began. She was eventually to be convicted of authorizing kidnapping and abduction, and as an accessory to crimes of violence.