If You Keep Digging

This short story collection centres on people whose lives are often overlooked, dismissed or simply left out of view, and it is likely to speak strongly to readers in South Africa. Its stories follow ordinary, everyday existences shaped by the early years after democracy, when each character must grapple with what the 'new' nation means for them.

The title story collection includes 'Monkeys', which examines domestic violence, toxic masculinity and patriarchy, including the way patriarchy intersects with race. It also looks at power between white and black men and at how children learn to understand themselves as white or black. 'Skinned' follows a woman with albinism as she learns to believe she deserves love in a world that tells her otherwise. In 'Fourteen', the author plays with time and reality in a story about potential and the frustration of unmet hopes and ambitions.

Across the collection, the stories probe a wide range of subjects: difficult family ties, abandonment, social and class divides, power at school and at work, mental illness, witchcraft, sexuality, abuse at home and the ancestral realm. Readers who want varied perspectives on contemporary South African life will find much to consider.