Fiela Kommetie, a coloured woman living in the Karoo, discovers a three-year-old white boy on her doorstep and takes him in. After a decade he is discovered by government officials and sent to live with a white family of woodcutters in the Knysna forest.

The book has been made into a feature film.

Award-winning author Dalene Matthee was posthumously honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the South African Department of Arts and Culture in 2007. She died in 2005. Her books have been translated into 14 languages. Her other novels include Kringe in 'n Bos, Fiela se Kind, Moerbeibos and Pieternella van die Kaap.