A seashell holds echoes of a forbidden wartime romance

1937. Louise Ahrendts, daughter of a shipbuilder, is at home in Simon’s Town, a vibrant community in the Union of South Africa, with a Royal Navy port at its heart. Louise dreams of becoming a nurse and in a world of unwritten, unspoken rules about colour, she has to fight to make it a reality.

The outbreak of the Second World War brings a man into Louise’s world whom she is determined to follow — despite all the obstacles that life and conflict throw in their way. But when a new troubled moment of history dawns, can they find their way back to each other?

‘An absorbing and tender love story with a twist’ Cape Argus

Barbara Mutch