Tumelo Moleleki Boeken

HAVING A LISP IS A PROBLEM. Every time you speak people laugh at you. They don't seem to care that it hurts your feelings. I mean, what can you do when - despite your best effort - you are just not able to say that 'ess' sound? My name is Letsema and I have a lisp. There are these kids at school who like to draw attention to my lisp by engaging me in meaningless conversation. They will taunt me until I relent, if I choose to ignore them. So, I decided to become a comedian. If I am also laughing at myself, then the hurt will be negated. I pour over material on YouTube to find jokes that have not become popular yet, and I modify them a little so as not to plagiarise them.Let's face it; I am bound to be a sensation, because my lisp is guaranteed to have people laughing even if my jokes are not funny. But - of course - I am a stickler for perfection, and that means I must always be at the top of my game.

Ntataiseng is a fourteen-year-old girl who is preoccupied with school, friends and boys. She is ambitious but cautious. Her life was quite normal until her mother fell ill suddenly. She had to take a break from her schooling in order to become a like wife to her father and like a mother to her two younger siblings.Tlotliso, her brother, is a charming and responsible younger brother who does his chores without much protestation. Thatohatsi, the baby of the family, is a nine-year-old prima donna. She won't do anything without a fight. She tries her sister's patience.Their father is a man who has parented from the shadows. Letting his wife do all the rearing and disciplining. He was content to live this way until that fateful day when his wife fell ill and left him to raise the children alone. When he denies his daughter an once-in-a-lifetime chance, he is unprepared for the chain reaction effect that follows this decision.Dramatic events unfold during the days leading up to the funeral and a fight ensues between father and daughter, resulting in a separation. Her grandmother is draconian, but Ntataiseng's pride will not let her go back home, because then her father wins.Follow their turbulent journey as they each find a way to cope with their loss and carry on with their lives.

Elizabeth, along with her younger brother, Lawrence, is a virtual slave living on a farm owned by the Forsythes. She depends upon Charles Forsythe, her cruel master, for everything. He extends his hold over her by raping her and as a result she becomes pregnant. It is while she is in hospital giving birth that she glimpses a life that is possible beyond her miserable existence, mainly because of the kindness shown to her by a young white male nurse.Elizabeth has nothing, and even the child, whom she has named Jordan after the young nurse, is taken from her by the Forsythes who rename her. Her only hope is Charles' mother, a kind lady who visits occasionally from England. Over time she realises the state of affairs and attempts to right the wrongs done to Elizabeth and her brother. But Elizabeth is not free. A chance meeting with the nurse, now a doctor, again gives her a glimpse of a different kind of life, but a different fear holds her back. Will she ever be free and happy?