Sam Nkogatse

The Black man in the White people's yard Sam Nkogatse

This is a tale of Joy Hills, a wife, mother and doctor by profession. Dr. Joy Hills, as his patients often called was married to Mr. Elliot Hills, a Pharmacist. The two were a happy family, blessed with two kids; Monica and her brother, Sebastian. Like most love tales that seem to never end, theirs too was short-lived. Apparently, Joy sought comfort in the hands and between bed covers of the Hills' gardener, Steven Khalo, a Black man. Soon after finding out that Steven was not only watering their roses and lilies, Mr. Hills lost it...he killed Steven. The Black man in the White people's yard is a fictional read not based on real life events and persons although many can come to relate to the story line. This is a tale of love and deception and everything else in between. It explores the sensitive issue of temptations, trust, honest and dignity between partners in a relationship. It further highlights the consequences of cheating or being an unfaithful partner in a relationship. In the course of the story we take a look at Joy's life. She ends up divorcing her husband while still jailed for the murder of their gardener. In the coming chapters we will be exposed to how she gets to deal with her divorce. We also go back a bit to Joy's life while she was still at school and how she lived in her teen years. The plot of the story unfolds and comes to life around some of the familiar surroundings of Pretoria, Johannesburg and Bronkhorspruit, and other places in South Africa. As for the unknown mentioned places across the story, they are used by the author to add or spice up the plot while creating a good story set. These other places do not exist. The book in itself although it makes reference to race, it is not intended to promote racism and violence but rather to tell of a romance tragedy that happened to be across colour lines. Irrespective of how the plot pens out, the theme the author seeks, centred on the theme of humanness, no matter the circumstances.