Barbara Mutch

The Case Against Fili Du Bois unfolds in post-apartheid South Africa, the Rainbow Nation of Nelson Mandela’s dream. I chose the beautiful winelands of the Western Cape as the setting, an area I have come to know and love. In an era of new beginnings, I imagined an abandoned child adopted into a wine-farming family, and striving to prove herself worthy of their love and commitment. In a wider context, the birth of a new democracy is also about integration… with both opportunities and growing pains. Can Fili seize her chance? Can the country overcome the weight of its past?

The gum trees were in flower and silky blossoms sifted over me like crimson snowflakes as I ran, the breath catching in my throat. Why, in moments of danger, does nature offer up such beauty? Is it to make us pause before our fists ball and blood runs too hot and hard through our veins?