Cut From Me

A searing novel of survival, trauma, and the long road to reclamation.

In the dust and coal-smoke streets of Soweto, young Nompumelelo learns early that trust is a luxury she cannot afford. Violated first by a cousin's kiss and then, years later, raped by his father in the backseat of a car hidden behind a bush, she carries the secret like a wound that never closes. Shame, silence, and self-destruction become her companions-porn, alcohol, failing grades-until sheer will propels her into nursing school and, eventually, across oceans.

From the relentless wards of Johannesburg to the rain-slick streets of London and the brutal intensity of New York's trauma centers, Nompumelelo rebuilds herself piece by painful piece. She earns her Doctor of Nursing Practice, confronts toxic love that mirrors her oldest wounds, and fights bureaucratic battles to practice on her own terms. But the past is a shadow that lengthens with every victory, and when memories resurface with merciless clarity, her body and mind finally rebel.

Supported by her chosen brother Lungelo-the one constant who refuses to let her fall-and haunted by the quiet kindness of Vikram Singh, the doctor who once taught her to fight, Nompumelelo returns to South Africa determined to break the cycle not just for herself, but for every girl who carries similar scars.