Fallen Candle By  Busisekile Khumalo

What happens when a lit candle falls? Does it flicker and plunge into darkness? Or does its flame erupt into angry flames, licking and obliterating everything in its path?

Fondly known as khandlela likayise, her father's shining candle, Emihle is rudely inducted into adulthood by the economic mayhem of Zimbabwe in 2008. Her whole world as she knows it comes crashing down.

Lonely and emotionally scarred, she seeks freedom from her pain. She gets a chance to escape her torturous marriage, but tradition has got other plans for her. Left with no choice, Emihle takes a leap of faith and turns her back on the only home she knows.

What awaits her in an unknown land? Rediscovery or more loss? More heartache or healing? Peace or more deep feeling of not belonging?

As she finds herself again, Emihle yearns to reignite the flame that used to burn within her. She seeks to be ikhandlela likayise again.