Hear Me Alone
by Thando Mgqolozana

When Epher returns to Nazareth, he meets his childhood sweetheart, Bellewa Miriam, whose marriage to the woodwork merchant, old man Joseph, has been arranged. Bellewa Miriam shares with Epher that an angel has informed her that she would conceive that very night. Many years later, Epher recounts the events of that meeting in a letter to his patron and friend Theophilus, recounting the consequences suffered as a result of the encounter, which, Epher hopes, will be included in the bible. A reimagining of the Nativity Story, this novel offers an imaginative alternative to the account of the conception and birth of Jesus Christ.