BEFORE you even enter the house, you can tell a book-lover lives here.
There's an earthy, B woody scent in the air that hits you as you walk in from the gate. The front porch is a reader's dream: a comfy brown leather couch you just want to sink into, with a small coffee table in front of it and two armchairs.
And there are books everywhere: on the table, beside the couch, behind the couch, piled high on bookcases. Step inside and there's more. Every room, apart from the kitchen, is packed with books.
In fact, Roza Pretorius owns more than 50 000 books, all jostling for space in her house in Muckleneuk, Pretoria. Shelves are filled to the brim with books, which are organised alphabetically and by type.
Amazingly, the 75-year-old knows exactly where everything is. "Organised chaos is what I call it," she says.
To accommodate all her books, Roza no longer has a lounge, dining room, a downstairs flat or a garage. Half of her bedroom is home to crates and boxes filled with books. It's the same in the passage. Her collection, which she's been growing since she was a child, has every kind of book you can imagine: novels, autobiographies, history, fiction, poetry and non-fiction.
She has books written in Afrikaans, English and Dutch.
"I've got an addictive personality,' she says. "The books keep me happy. They are my way of escaping from reality."
Roza has a great desire to expand her horizons, so she reads anything and everything. "If you always read the same kind of books, you'll never learn. You have to move past the Enid Blytons and try something else, otherwise you'll end up reading Mills and Boon your whole life," she says.
Her favourite place to look for books is the church fête. "Besides the pancakes, there are always books on sale," she says happily.
Denne historien er fra 1 September 2022-utgaven av YOU South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra 1 September 2022-utgaven av YOU South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
HOW TO BE YOUR OWN THERAPIST
With more and more of us struggling with our mental health, here's a common-sense guide to coping with life's ups and downs
SPUD: THE MAGIC CONTINUES
John van de Ruit tells us why he decided to write a sequel - and shares how his first book helped him find enduring love
SEX CONTRACT GONE WRONG
A Cape Town couple have been charged with using a young woman as a sex slave-but some say she lost the job she signed up for and now has a grudge against them
LIAM LAID TO REST
More than a month after One Direction singer LIAM PAYNE (31) tragically fell to his death from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his loved ones finally got to say their goodbyes.
SHILOH HANGS OUT
THE two young women look like any pair of good friends chatting and laughing as they leave their dance class in Los Angeles.
LEO IN LOVE
He's just turned 50 and it seems Leonardo DiCaprio may finally be ready to settle down
PACKING A PUNCH
Irish actor Paul Mescal beefed up for his role in the blockbuster epic Gladiator II - and fans are loving it
I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE A LOVE CHILD
As the illegitimate daughter of the king, she fought to be recognised as part of Belgium's royal family, but Princess Delphine says she still feels unwelcome
'I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES'
A bite from a spitting cobra 13 years ago nearly killed her but Mikayla survived - and she's made peace with her scars
THE CLAWS ARE OUT!
Things have grown frosty between the Beckhams and the Sussexes as Becks comes out in clear support of William