He towered over her, his great hands gripping her arm as he swung her towards him. A wave of stale alcohol from his breath engulfed her and she turned her face from him, struggling to free herself from his grasp.

‘What’s the matter?’ he roared at her. ‘Can’t look at your pa any more, is that it? You don’t want to think about how he crawled around the forests for weeks at a time on his belly, so you and your ma and Piet could sleep safe in your beds, heh? I did it for you, you hear? I did it for all of you, yes. But no one wants to think about that now.’ His eyes filled with tears, and he shook her roughly.

‘You did what for us?’ Hannah shouted back. ‘Tell me what you did that was so noble, that cost us our future at Langani? Why won’t anybody tell me?’

‘You know nothing! You’ve been sheltered all your life, protected, given everything. You didn’t see your uncle after they finished with him, with his belly split open and his throat slit, and his organs stuffed into his mouth. It’s what they would have done to me and to you, and your mother and your brother!’

‘Well, now it’s all destroyed anyway. You’ve destroyed it. You’ve destroyed all of us.’ Hannah lifted the bottle in fury, and smashed it on the edge of the sink.

‘Damn you, girl!’ Jan reached for the jagged remains, cutting himself on the broken glass. He looked down at the gash dripping on to the floor and then raised his bloodied hand and struck her with full force on the side of her face. She staggered and fell against the sink, slithering to the floor. The red handprint pulsed through the mist of rage and despair that possessed him. Hannah was trying to stand, her eyes glazed in shock. Her hand came up to the livid mark on her cheek, and she took it away and looked at it dumbly. Jan sank to his knees beside her, weeping.

‘Hannah! Ach, God, my little Hannah, I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me! Hannah, I’m sorry. Come here, let me help you. Ach, I’m so sorry, my little girl—’