Summary

In Chapter 1, 85-year-old Hortensia James has gone for long walks ever since the illness of her now-dying husband, Peter. She walks to the Koppie, a small hill that is largely untouched by man, located in Katterijn, a wealthy, mostly white neighborhood of about 40 houses in Constantia, a suburb of Cape Town. Hortensia herself is the only African-American to own a house (her husband was white), and she always notices how everyone so carefully tends to their gardens. Her walks to the Koppie allow her to meditate and to cope with memories that range from Peter to working at her interior design company, House of Braithwaite, to her fame. She reflects on her long-running rivalry with white neighbor, Marion Agostino, who is very prim, proper, and exacting. Their rivalry began with Hortensia deciding to attend neighborhood committee meetings, with the committee being all-white until Hortensia...