A searing, suspenseful story of a woman's confrontation with the sinister legacy of British colonialism in Southern Africa.
Koliwe has grown up between two worlds: England, her white mother's home country, where she was born and raised, and Eswatini, the homeland her father left behind. When her father dies unexpectedly, Koliwe takes a job as an aid worker for a British-run nonprofit in Eswatini. There, her belief in the necessity of international aid is tested by the harsh reality of a divided country--and by her white supervisor, Cameron, whose hot-and-cold treatment simultaneously intrigues and repels her.
When a local girl, Thandi, goes missing, Koliwe begins looking into what has happened to her. But her search for truth leads her deeper down dangerous paths, entangling her with fellow aid workers, long-lost family members, and the mercurial Cameron--until she is forced to question not only the insidious dynamics of so-called aid in a colonized nation, but also her own perception of herself.