Those Who Live in Cages: A Novel

This novel opens the door to the lives of five Coloured women facing life-changing challenges while trying to do the most important thing - survive another day in Eldorado Park in the south of Johannesburg. Kaylynn, Bertha, Janice, Laverne and Raquel try to navigate their way through domestic violence, migration, coming of age and the ever-cloying patriarchy that permeate every part of living in Eldorado Park, affectionately known as Eldos by its people.

These women are at different ages and stages of their lives yet connected by this one place and a community that has shaped their worldview. Through phone calls, diary entries, poems and other forms of reported speech, each woman’s struggles are told with honesty.

Written, in part, from the perspective of Eldos, this predominantly Coloured township comes alive as the reader gets a look into the heart of a community that has been branded with the image of addiction and violence.

The author’s hope is to take the reader on a sensory experience that lays bare the sights, smells and soul of Eldos through the eyes of its residents and specifically these women characters. At its core, Those Who Live In Cages is a story about Coloured women, family, friendship, identity, and the many ways one can play the hand that life deals you.