In these masterfully crafted stories set across southern Africa, ordinary lives intersect with extraordinary circumstances, evoking tales of survival, betrayal, and transformation.

At a township’s edge, child circus performers develop supernatural abilities. In post-independence Namibia, a security guard protects an abandoned fish farm while harboring painful wartime secrets. A zoologist’s search for a new species in Zambia masks private turmoil, leading to tragic consequences. A conversation with a seductive stranger on a flight to Addis Ababa causes a flailing young woman to change course. A teenager fights for her life while swimming off the coast of Mozambique.

Investigating the political and the personal, M. A. Kelly’s second short story collection peels back the layers of human nature to reveal both beauty and darkness.