When Nkosazana abandons her calling as a teacher in the Eastern Cape to follow the love-of-her-life to Gauteng, she becomes inured to domestic service as her only escape from a dominating mother-in-law.
Forced to take on the dysfunctional family across the road when her cosy, live-in job falls away, Tabby/Nkosi is faced with the tough realities of a failing marriage (her own and her employer’s), the need to retrain to survive in a changing world, and the very real social challenges of a failing economy.
Despite her own ill-health and marital concerns, she soon finds herself deeply involved in her young employer Louisa’s battle to keep custody of her children and – as their friendship grows – ends up helping to change her employer’s fortunes and virtually close down a rhino horn smuggling syndicate. As Nkosi grows to meet the new challenges that face her daily, retraining to help care for Louisa’s granny who has dementia, and stepping in to sort out family differences when Louisa attempts suicide, Nkosi develops the personal resources not only (literally) to save people from a burning building, but also to lay claim to her own identity and, ultimately, fulfil the dreams she had long since given up on – to run a small independent school and start her own family.
The story is set in the pre-Covid South Africa of 2019 where, plagued by power cuts, known as Loadshedding, society struggles with reduced grants to social workers and non-profit organisations that care for the vulnerable and mentally ill.