The subtitle to my new novel, The Case Against Fili Du Bois, is: A stray child, an unsolved crime, a precious legacy. But what event led me to design the heroine, Fili, to be a "stray" child? Wrapped in a shawl, laid in a cardboard box that was wedged into a ditch, yet in a place where she was likely to be found?
It all started when I happened to drive past a church in the southern Cape Peninsula of South Africa. Fixed to a side wall was a sign that, while small, was hard to miss. It said: "Baby drop off. Ages up to 3". Each time I happened to pass by, I would reflect on the kindness of the church in offering such a service so that needy young parents could work or care for other family for a few hours while knowing their baby would be looked after. But then I got to wonder whether there had ever been an instance where a child had been dropped off - and never fetched?
And so the story of Fili began.
I remember the day I was left behind...
But I can't remember my mother, however hard I try. Why did she leave me?
Abandoned babies are a particular tragedy, not just for the child but also for the mother or parents who are perhaps forced to give up their child due to poverty or illness or inability to care for their young. In the book, the church attempts to trace her mother, but with no success. Fili is taken to an orphanage and put up for adoption.
I've tried to make excuses for her but I can't.
How can I love her when she never kept me?
Yet Fili is lucky.
Martin and Ray Du Bois have been unable to have children of their own. Fili, Ray recalls, was the most adorable child on offer at the orphanage. She'd lifted her arms to them in appeal, and they'd looked no further.
But will Fili forgive her birth mother now that she has a new set of parents?
And will her unknown background haunt her - and impact her promising future?
You decide... when you've read the book...
No comments:
Post a Comment