Wilma Stockerstr ms profound work of narrative fiction, translated by Nobel Prize winner J.M.Coetzee, is a rare, haunting, exploration of enslavement and freedom. Fully hidden in the hollow of a baobab tree, the unnamed former slave narrator finds that for the first time in her life, her time and her body are her own. In solitude, she is able to reflect on the meaning of her own existence, bringing her a semblance of inner peace. A relationship of intimacy is formed, as we are the sole witness her tortured days, no one but the reader knowing she is inside the tree.