Casualties of Truth

In 1996, law student Prudence Wright took an internship in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she was assigned to attend the Truth and Reconciliation sessions, where agents of the Apartheid state were forgiven their crimes, provided they freely admitted them in front of their victims. What she witnessed there shaped her sense of righteousness as a lawyer and advocate in the decades to follow. Now it’s 2018, and Prudence lives in Washington, DC, with a loving husband, an autistic son for whom she cares, and memories of a glorious law career. But her past finds its way back to her. Twenty-two years ago, she was nearly raped by an Afrikaans police officer. A stranger intervened, and they followed the officer home and took vengeance on him. Now the stranger, Matshediso, turns up on Prudence’s doorstep, having been hired by her husband as his new IT specialist. She wonders why he’s there and whether he’s stalking her. She knows he wants something from her, but what is it? Finding out leads to further violence and a radical reshuffling of Prudence’s values.