First published 2019
Ben Greene arrives in southern Africa as a young schoolteacher sent by his church to locate John Rice, a missionary who vanished in Botswana. His search pulls him into Angola's war zone, where gunfire erupts around him and a child dies in his arms. Ben finds Rice's corpse among other slain missionaries. He and his African interpreter Tembu must navigate the dangerous Okavango swamp on foot to reach safety. Ben returns to South Africa wounded in body and spirit, carrying the weight of what he witnessed. Guilt drives him to continue Rice's work. He and his wife Marilyn move to Cape Town, where they join the ministry of charismatic evangelist Alexander Van Hemel. The couple believes they have found their calling, but Van Hemel harbors hidden motives that will trap them in a web of deception and manipulation.
Genres: christian-fiction, historical-fiction, adventure, africa
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Botswana, Angola, Okavango, South Africa, Cape Town
Period: 20th-century
354 pages · Hardcover · Anaphora Literary Press
Content warnings: death, violence, war