Thorns and Roses

Emma van Zyl sketches the garden boy in secret-forbidden feelings in a country still learning to heal.

When armed intruders shatter her family's world, Pontsho Rantsho risks everything to save them. But surviving the violence is only the beginning. In apartheid's long shadow, their love faces a more dangerous test: families divided by prejudice, a town that watches their every move, and the question of whether choosing each other means losing everything else.

Some roses grow despite the thorns.

This one might bleed them both.

T. G. Nduna is a South African writer with a degree in Psychological Counseling and an ABET Higher Diploma. His writing endeavors to explores resilience, generational trauma, and the hidden burdens carried by women and families. A Daughter's Lament is his latest novel, blending Setswana oral tradition with contemporary African realities.