Abandoned by her partner in Scotland, where she has been living for 25 years, Mercia returns to her homeland of South Africa to find her family overwhelmed by alcoholism and secrets. Poised between her life in Scotland and her life in South Africa, she recollects the past with a keen sense of irony as she searches for some idea of home. With this pitch-perfect story, the writer of rare brilliance' (The Scotsman) Zoe Wicomb stands to claim her rightful place as one of the pre-eminent contemporary voices in international fiction.'