Stellenbosch haunts Liam Baillie. It lives loud in his memory like a fast-moving cloud close enough to touch. The truth? He is lost in Bloemfontein, the City of Roses, searching to find his wife. With the help of Lieutenant Nobantu of the South African Police Service, Liam Baillie searches for the truth which is as elusive to him as daylight beguiled by a sweep of shadow. But Nobantu probes with an easiness of manner as warm as her handshake, and Liam reveals his story. It begins in Stockbridge where he learns the truth about Monster meetings and the sweet talker Daniel O'Connell, the People of Heaven and money sent to the hills of Armagh. There, he is told that working heaven is an art form, a cunning craft, and like Yeats' fiddler of Dooney, one must dance to get first through the gate. But he argues there is more and travels to Ladysmith and to the Klip River Lounge; past the resurrection of Rune Carrick and the secrets of Umbulwane Mountain's plant chemicals; past the Slaine Mission and the prized Bonsmara and Tuli to the slouching stragglers with HIV who move across the threshold with their courageous dance of hope; on to the white-washed Greystone Mansion in Bloemfontein and to a meeting with the jackal, Raf Sander Roodt. In the end, he longs only to return home, to Canaan, Connecticut, where foxtail grasses yellow and bittersweet twines the posts and rail, where the brightest Sunday in October promises a good day to travel. But the truth is the only way home, and Liam tells Nobantu: I've been too long in Stellenbosch, Lieutenant. How can I be certain what I am about to tell you is the truth or a waking dream?
