Beauty’s Promise

Book excerpt: Brenda Phiri is dying of AIDS. She will soon leave her sixteen-year-old daughter, Beauty, alone in the world with her younger brother. Before she succumbs, Brenda asks young Beauty for a promise. She requests that her daughter remain a virgin until marriage and hopes Beauty will keep a journal of her experiences. Beauty is no ordinary girl, however; shes a traffic-stopping beauty. With her mother gone, Beauty finds herself under the guardianship of the very handsome Thabo Gumede. Thabo believes it is only a matter of time before he seduces young Beauty. She deftly avoids his advances, though, determined to keep her promise to her mother. She even founds the Diary Girls, a group intended to promote chastity among young people. Unfortunately, the patron of this group is Pastor Mandla Khumalo, who also wants to have his wicked way with Beauty. Plagued by her own raging hormones and surrounded by amorous schoolboys and lustful older men, Beauty must fight to stay pure and keep her promise. She must remain chaste in a society awash with sex. Will she be able to resist the power of temptation, or will she give in and become a mans plaything?