"In the middle of a busy intersection, in a city in Africa, a careening bus, a gongo-drinking driver, and - in an instant - a terrifying collision nearly kills a local boy. Sarie Turner, a stunned witness, cannot stay on the sidelines. She offers the boy comfort until help comes, and for days afterward can think of nothing but his fate." "Once a nurse, now a housewife and mother, Belgian-born Sarie does not expect much excitement from life, but in the wake of this fateful accident, she finds herself with a new sense of purpose. However, when she tries to visit the ailing child, she is warned away. Those in the know say that there is a bad-luck cloud over the Jeevanjee household, ruled by a dangerous man known as Mad Majid. There is no telling what violence he might commit if she dares show up at his doorstep." "Still, dead set on her mission, Sarie ventures to the shuttered green house and finds there not a lunatic but a man haunted by grief for his nine-years-lost bride. Before long, their friendship blossoms into a taboo affair that surprises both of them and the neighborhood eyes and ears."--BOOK JACKET.