And so begins Holding My Breath, a memoir fashioned in a way that invites the reader to eavesdrop on a broken young man's heartfelt conversation with his dead mother. Ace's mother died when he was 13, leaving behind an extremely broken boy in equally broken circumstances. In her death, he writes to her to celebrate and thank her for her strength and resilience, and that of black mothers in general. We live in a country where stories like Ace's are not unique or unheard of. These are the stories of: Child-headed homes in South Africa, The volatile issue of service delivery in most parts of South Africa, Why fees must fall, The story of broken families.This is what makes Ace's story so important, so necessary. It is a true reflection of the country we live in 21 years into democracy. But it is also a heart-wrenching account of one boy's journey from having been loved to a life where love is but a distant memory. It is the story of constantly holding your breath, hoping nothing else goes wrong.

And so begins Holding My Breath, a memoir fashioned in a way that invites the reader to eavesdrop on a broken young man's heartfelt conversation with his dead mother. Ace's mother died when he was 13, leaving behind an extremely broken boy in equally broken circumstances. In her death, he writes to her to celebrate and thank her for her strength and resilience, and that of black mothers in general. We live in a country where stories like Ace's are not unique or unheard of. These are the stories of: Child-headed homes in South Africa, The volatile issue of service delivery in most parts of South Africa, Why fees must fall, The story of broken families.This is what makes Ace's story so important, so necessary. It is a true reflection of the country we live in 21 years into democracy. But it is also a heart-wrenching account of one boy's journey from having been loved to a life where love is but a distant memory. It is the story of constantly holding your breath, hoping nothing else goes wrong.