This Might Sting a Bit

Meet Kat. Just a regular teenager growing up on a Zimbabwean farm. Full of fun, but sensible - her brother and grandfather are far more suited to the role of family nutters.

Then a tragic accident takes her - slowly, insidiously - from her idyllic world into a darker reality. Chronic pain leads her to a stormy love affair with pharmaceuticals and into a battle she seems unlikely to win. Playing fast and loose with their prescription pads, doctors help set the scene for Kat's utter destruction. In treatment, a group of colourful characters do their best to draw her from the dark underbelly of life, back into a lighter world.

In the background, skeletons continue to tumble from the family closet with Kat's mother saving the best for last.

Light and wittily told, This Might Sting a Bit is a laugh-while-you-weep story of hope, survival and family. It throws some punches, yet embraces the reader as it follows the journeys of broken and vulnerable members of society, and of those who fight to save them.