The second coming of Mavala Shikongo

"When Mavala Shikongo deserted them, the teachers at Goas weren't surprised. How could they be? She was too beautiful, too powerful, and too mysterious for their tiny, remote world. They had a thousand theories about their departed colleague and only one essential fact: she was a combat veteran of Namibia's brutal war for independence. She must have had something to hide - why else would she have endured the long days and cold nights at this threadbare boys' school, so deep in the veld that, the teachers say "even the baboons feel sorry for us"?" "So when Mavala returns to Goas their astonishment is genuine. In her arms is a baby son, and there is no mention of a husband. Awed by her boldness, the teachers try hard, once again, not to fall in love with her. They all fail, immediately and miserably, especially the American volunteer, Larry Kaplanski." "This novel is a chronicle of longing in an arid place where people create an alternate, more fertile universe through the stories they tell one another. History is given a truly human voice."--BOOK JACKET.