Synopsis
In the novella, Shadows, Mpho, a young artist, wanders the streets of Bulawayo, wondering at the savagery of his neighbours. Their drive for survival has turned them into animals. Jobless, powerless and angry, he watches his ugly, ageing mother leave each night to prowl the streets in search of Johns, of love and of youth. When his mother dies alone in a hospital of AIDS for which the clinic could not provide ARVs, Mpho flees to Joburg to search for his girlfriend Nomsa. He finds her doing what he so hated in his mother – taking off her clothes in front of strangers for money. She wants jewels, diamonds, nice cars. Things he can’t provide.
