Hortensia and Marion are next door neighbours in a charming, bougainvillea-laden Cape Town suburb. One is black, one white. Both are successful women with impressive careers behind them. Both have recently been widowed. Both are in their eighties. And both are sworn enemies, sharing hedge and hostility pruned with zeal.

But one day an unforeseen event forces the women together. Could long-held mutual loathing transform into friendship?

Love thy neighbour? Easier said than done.

How do you get to know your daughter when she is dead? 

This is the question that haunts Mojisola as she grapples with the sudden loss of her daughter, Yinka and the unresolved fractures in their relationship. Mojisola is forced to confront the dysfunctions of her life that have led her to this point, evading her errant husband and mourning their estranged daughter alone. 

Mojisola’s grief takes her from Cape Town to Johannesburg where she holes up in Yinka’s apartment, unearthing the life that she had built for herself there. Walking a mile in Yinka’s red high-heeled shoes, Mojisola slips into a clandestine underworld, where she learns to break free from the bondage of the labels, wife and mother.   

In this new world of feline companions, reignited talents and hazy weed-filled afternoon teas with Yinka’s landlady Zelda, Mojisola’s understanding of life and her place within it, is built anew.

Hortensia and Marion are next door neighbours in a charming, bougainvillea-laden Cape Town suburb. One is black, one white. Both are successful women with impressive careers behind them. Both have recently been widowed. Both are in their eighties. And both are sworn enemies, sharing hedge and hostility pruned with zeal.

But one day an unforeseen event forces the women together. Could long-held mutual loathing transform into friendship?

Love thy neighbour? Easier said than done.

How do you get to know your daughter when she is dead? 

This is the question that haunts Mojisola as she grapples with the sudden loss of her daughter, Yinka and the unresolved fractures in their relationship. Mojisola is forced to confront the dysfunctions of her life that have led her to this point, evading her errant husband and mourning their estranged daughter alone. 

Mojisola’s grief takes her from Cape Town to Johannesburg where she holes up in Yinka’s apartment, unearthing the life that she had built for herself there. Walking a mile in Yinka’s red high-heeled shoes, Mojisola slips into a clandestine underworld, where she learns to break free from the bondage of the labels, wife and mother.   

In this new world of feline companions, reignited talents and hazy weed-filled afternoon teas with Yinka’s landlady Zelda, Mojisola’s understanding of life and her place within it, is built anew.