After Lumkile is arrested for robbery, his estranged mother appears and removes him to the Eastern Cape, where he makes a fresh start reinventing himself at a new school and falling in love.When the time comes for Lumkile to enter manhood by undergoing a ritual circumcision, he prepares eagerly for the ceremonies ahead. However, in his makeshift hut on the mountain, Lumkile realises that something has gone terribly wrong. Having been taught that ';what happens at the mountain stays at the mountain' he faces a stark choice: to seek medical help and risk being forever ostracised and labelled as a ';failed man'; or to suffer life-changing injuries or even death.This deftly written novel is one young man's intimate account of a botched circumcision, and his journey to accept his fate and embrace his future, as he gains a deeper understanding of what it really means to be a man.
