The circumstances of the birth of Duma, the protagonist of this novel, are such that the people of his village consider him to be “idlozi“, a child of the ancestors in a specially dangerous way. But his grandparents, who have to raise him, are comforted by an old Ndebele saying: “An orphan who does not perish shall live to see the best of times.”
As they flee from the rural areas to protect Duma, they find themselves in a tribally mixed township where Mabena, the grandfather, has to come to terms with the influence of new ways on his grandson. Mabena, woodcarver and former warrior, will have no truck with notions like the equality of women and refuses to give up dagga which the elders have always smoked.
Written with a light and amusing touch, this novel, in its quiet way preserves knowledge of the old ways which might soon be lost, while accepting the inexorable march of time and change.