It is the politically turbulent 1950s, in Cape Town. Phyllis’s ailing mother has just passed away, leaving Phyllis without a home, and with no one to care for. With her sister’s help, she applies for a position as matron at a prestigious boarding school for boys. Surrounded by restless, reckless boys on the verge of adulthood, Phyllis is reminded of her own desires and losses. She begins to write a journal again – for the first time since that dreadful day when her mother discovered what she had...
On the larger of two islands in the southern Atlantic seas, a baby girl is born one dark winter’s day, while the spindrift wind sings strange songs around the gullies and cliffs. But Gulai’s mother dies soon after giving birth to her, and her father, Dr Orion Prosper, the only medical doctor on the island, blames himself.For days afterwards he stays locked in his room, refusing to talk to anyone. But Gulai never stops crying and her aunt is forced to seek advice from Sophia – the island’s other...
