A Gap in the Hedge

When Karl wakes up in a dilapidated house on the outskirts of a South African mining town, he does not know who or where he is, but it’s clear that the townsfolk know him.

 

Next door lives a ten-year-old boy, Henry. Henry’s father is a violent drug-dealer, his mother helpless in protecting them against him.

 

A gap in the hedge between the two houses allows Henry to slip into Karl’s yard, and Karl and Henry strike up a gentle friendship as glimpses of Karl’s troubled past and his time in the army emerge.

 

When a drug deal goes wrong, Henry’s mother is killed. His father unceremoniously dumps her body in a disused mineshaft, but a murder investigation ensues after the body is discovered. All is not as it seems, however, and in a powerful climax the real connection between Henry and Karl is revealed.