Mary Watson

Seventeen-year-old Savannah is cursed. It's a sinister family heirloom; passed down through the bloodline for hundreds of years, with one woman in every generation destined to die young. The family call them Hella's girls, named for their ancestor Hella; the enslaved woman with whom it all began.

Hella's girls are always angry, especially in the months before they die. The anger is bursting from Savannah - at the men who cat-call her in the street, at her mother's disingenuous fiancé, even at her own loving family. Each fit of rage is bringing her closer to the edge and now Savannah has to act to save herself. Or die trying. Because the key to survival lies in the underbelly of Cape Town, where the sinister veilwitches are waiting for just such a girl.

Esmie is supposed to be invisible. Just a cleaner with a foreign accent that no one quite has time to place. Her uniform of leggings and a duster allows her to explore the homes of the wealthy, unseen; an outsider creeping around the edges of privilege. But as she sweeps through the exclusive Woodlands gated neighbourhood, cleaning is the last thing on her mind.

Treading silently over the polished wooden floorboards and cloud-soft carpets, Esmie gathers up the mess of broken marriages, quiet deceptions and careless failures. She tucks away their fragments, keeping them safe. For now. Because one of the residents took from her the person she loves most. She’s not here to clean; she’s here for revenge – and she’ll get it using the weapons her employers unwittingly handed her along with the keys to their homes: their own secrets…