When Nomandla is awarded ascholarship to attend the prestigious Cameron House for Girls in Durban, shethinks her life will improve. Instead it falls apart. Growing up in Ziyabuya township, Nomandlabattles poverty, racism, and her own mental health. She is pursued by visionswhich result in her being hospitalised, and is then made to accompany herfather on Saturdays to his gardening job at the home of the Smith family. It ishere that she first encounters Casey, a girl who will play a significant rolein turning her life upside down, destroying her hope of a better future. Meanwhile, at Cameron House, Nomandla learns that, as a scholarship girl, sheis expected to showcase gratitude as well as her culture, being regarded aslittle more than a display of transformation, unity and acceptance. Unfortunately, the reality is very different. Andile Cele’s beautiful debut novelconsiders the complexities around identity, its ties to shame, grief, and toSouth Africa’s painful history. Braids & Migraines follows Nomandla as shecomes to a place of personal understanding and acceptance, withoutcompromise.
