Every city has an unspoken side. Cape Town, between the postcard mountain and sea, has its own shadow-side lurking in its lap: a place of dislocation and uncertainty, dependence and desperation, destruction and survival, gangsters, pimps, pedophiles, hunger, hope and moments of happiness. This book therefore is an extraordinary and unsparing account of the coming of age on the street in Cape Town - a place of dislocation and uncertainty, desperation with glimpses of happiness.

This novel won the coveted Commonwealth Writer's Prize.

K. SELLO DUIKER was born and raised in Soweto. He went on to study journalism at Rhodes University in Grahamston before moving to Cape Town. His varied experiences while living in Cape Town form the basis of this book. He sadly passed away in 2005, a tender 31 year old