ABOUT
THE BOOK

The Strangers said I must tell the nation that all cattle now living must be slaughtered…The fields must not be cultivated…When the time is ripe the whole community of the dead will arise, and new cattle will fill the kraals.’
In the mid-nineteenth century, in the Eastern Cape village of Qolorha, a young girl called Nongqawuse brought this message from the ancestors to the amaXhosa people. The prophecy split the nation into Believers and Unbelievers, dividing brother from brother, wife from husband, and the consequences were devastating.
One hundred and fifty years later, the feud between the Believers and Unbelievers still simmers in Qolorha, as the villagers take opposing sides on every issue. When plans are mooted to build a vast casino and tourist resort in the village, they once again battle over their future, and face the loss of their heritage.