Blaise is thirteen years old when this story opens in 1968. Within the stratified society of Cape Town during the height of the Apartheid era, his family occupies the very top rung of the social and economic ladder. Gifted, popular, good looking, Blaise is set for a life of happiness and success. But during his third year at university, tragedy strikes, and Blaise’s life is turned upside down. He opts to waive his student deferment from military service, and 1975 sees him participating in South Africa’s first campaign against regular Cuban forces in Angola. Brought up in a Catholic family, Blaise’s Catholic faith now becomes more important to him than ever before, and in pursuit of what he believes is a divine command, he finds himself in Rhodesia during the tail end of that country’s vicious bush war. And here, Blaise must endure the single greatest hardship and horror of his life, and suffer a terrible ordeal, and it is from this moment that he begins to acquire his reputation as a Catholic mystic and holy man.