With expert, elegant and economical verse, Francine Simon’s debut collection blends ancestral Catholic mysticism and ancient folk Hinduism to create new and essential portraits of modern South African-Indian identity and womanhood. Unflinching and meditative, Thungachi tracks the journeys, migrations and maturations of peoples, families and the self, all while deftly innovating with form, language and style – ultimately marking Simon out as one of South Africa’s most unexpectedly excellent poetic debutantes