Gugulethu Sibiya, a second-year law student at the Mahikeng Campus of the North-West University (NWU), recently published a novel titled “The Turning Point”.

The book focuses on a young person’s choices due to the influence of love and adults who take advantage of young people.

The book takes us through themes of how love comes in the least expected ways, and how true love catches one off guard. The book sees a teacher at a secondary school fall in love with a learner that he teaches, but the situation becomes even more complicated when the learner falls pregnant. Both their lives take a sharp turn for the worst. The teacher loses his job, his marriage is on shaky grounds and he is convinced that the Almighty is punishing him. The learner loses her youth, leaves school, and carries the burden of raising a child by herself.

But, as the saying goes, “There is a light at the end of every tunnel.” The baby grows up to become a beautiful child and a light in her mother’s life. When the girl reaches womanhood, she introduces her boyfriend to her family. He is the spitting image of the secondary teacher (her father), leaving the reader wondering if they could possibly be related…

The book is published by Partridge Africa Publishers, who aims to provide authors with tools to share their stories locally and internationally, recognising Africa’s rich culture and heritage.

The idea of the book originates from Gugulethu’s own personal experience and journey. “Writing and publishing a book at the age of 19 is the greatest accomplishment of my life. My mandate in life has always been to inspire and most of all to develop my talents. Through this book I am doing just that,” she comments.

The book can be downloaded from Amazon.com.