Invisible Strings

Naledi Mashishi’s Invisible Strings is an intoxicating blend of supernatural mystery, family secrets, and the corrupting power of popularity.

Thato Pule’s life is one with many secrets. The mystery of her aunt’s disappearance years before she was born overshadows her family, filling her life with squabbling and bickering between her mother, grandmother, and uncle. Only her mother’s reluctance at parenting keeps her powers unnoticed—powers that range from seeing the dead to healing by touch.

When ambitious pastor Solomon Khumalo stumbles upon Thato’s power, he makes her mother an offer to pass off Thato’s healing powers as his own in exchange for money. As the pastor’s dreams begin to warp into a nightmare of corruption, Thato begins to see a very specific ghost: one who tore her family apart years ago.

Invisible Strings is a story addresses not only the scourge of charismatic pastors in South Africa, but how the past bleeds into the present, no matter how much we try to forget it.