Blue Aloes

Three taps sound against Christine Chaine’s barred shutters. Then a whisper slips through the dark: “Take care of the children.”

On a remote Karoo farm in South Africa, night brings jackals, strange voices and a presence Christine cannot explain. The English governess has grown deeply attached to the van Cannan children, but the warning at her window singles out young Roderick—and the old farm’s past seems far from settled. This opening story sets the tone for Cynthia Stockley’s collection of tales shaped by the South African landscape, where tenderness and beauty lie close to danger, and the living may not be alone. Christine tells herself it was only a dream. But what is waiting beyond the blue aloes—and why does it want her to protect the boy?

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