First published in the 1950s, these stories are set in South Africa and concern the black-white confrontation there, describing the society from an artistic rather than a journalistic view-point. The central characters are seemingly ordinary people who become involved in incidents which they fail understand, but yet recognize the parts they must play. Both stories dramatize confrontation - between husband and wife, the boss and his boy and between black and white. The author was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Kimberley, South Africa. He has lived in London since the mid-1950s but has revisited South Africa several times.