The Intermediary: An African Ghost Story

The Intermediary is a light-hearted, but terrifying, ghost story from the eyes of a child, set in a rural village in Africa.

It deals with the life of seven-year-old twins Mila and Schalk, and her family, who move to a small rural town. This village is buzzing with ghosts. Silla was born with the caul. Lettie, the town's White Witch or Sangoma, and Paul, the town's postman, persuade Silla that she is an Intermediary, and ask her to help them get rid of the town's ghosts, witches, voodoo spells, and poltergeists. She agrees, unaware that they harbor an obscure secret about her past.

This sends the seven-year-old girl on a roller coaster ride, where she confuses the dead and the living, and helps them by making use of her gift as an Intermediary. Her confusion is incited by the mysterious behavior of a few townspeople, the inexplicable actions of her family, and the terrifying flashbacks she gets about incidents that happened in her past.

Not only does she lead a ghost bride through town late at night to find peace, but she also clears up the unsolved murder of the Els family. During her mission, she is plagued by evil spirits with devilish ulterior motives and helps a young boy who lives in a house with living, possessed mannequins. She clears up the secret of an outcast man, Frans, who is accused of returning from hell after thirty years of absence. Frans has not grown older, and suddenly cannot speak anymore. After Paul attends a funeral where the wrong corpse is buried, she unites a father with his prodigal son. She also discovers love letters in an old soapbox that leads her to an empty tomb.

While helping other people, her own family falls apart. Her sister wakes up in the morning in bed with muddy feet. When Mila follows her one night, she finds out that Alida is sleepwalking, digging a grave in their neighbor's garden. Her twin brother, Schalk, is under the influence of a hideous woman with three rows of teeth. This woman's shadow is connected to Schalk's neck with a rope, and the shadow follows him around all day. Mila's confidants secretly keep seances in her room while she sleeps, and her parents refuse to believe her when she tells them about the man with his ghost dog who comes to visit her at night.

Will Mila be able to break this curse, or will she be damned forever and remain an Intermediary?

Finely planned humor and childlike innocence are strategically woven with nerve-wracking mystery and fearsome characters, which will unleash a tangle of emotions in the reader.