A unique literary journey through select critical moments in South African history, this collection of short stories opens in Sophiatown of the 1950s--one of the most definitive periods in South African urban culture--and concludes by exploring the social fabric of contemporary society. Simple yet profound, the stories span generations, demonstrating the painful rhythms of a society in distress in the 1980s through the eyes of a child as well as the transitional period of the 1990s through the life of young man torn between the old and new world, eventually exploring the first decade of South African democracy. Informative and engaging, the narratives examine the interplay of past and present, and prompt a re-examination of the future.