The intention of this dissertation is to examine the writings of three South African women authors who are active in the post-apartheid era. Work by South African women writers, mainly English-speaking, has been emerging at a remarkable rate in the first 10 years of democracy. The three women authors chosen for examination here have been selected because of their different racial and social backgrounds. In different ways, they attempt to recuperate an alternative past by using a voice previously denied them through sexist and racial discrimination during apartheid South Africa. Post-apartheid writing has not received its due attention. In the main, the treatment of the works of post-apartheid authors has been slight and superficial. Unsurprisingly, the writers whose works are examined here reveal a cultural awareness of a society previously dominated by racial discrimination. However, their creative responses to the period of transition and the new social and political realities have been diverse, and this makes for revealing and enlightening analysis, criticism and comparison.