Vivette J. Kady grew up overseas, in South Africa. It is partly this that gives her such a keen perspective on human location and dislocation. Her characters, who range from teenage mothers to elderly dowsers, live dangerous and troubled lives, marked by miscommunication and pain, but also by intangible moments of joy. Indeed, it is perhaps these strange joys that are most vivid in her stories. Lightning isn't just one single stroke that falls to the earth, '' says one of her characters. It moves so quickly, we can't see it's actually rising, not falling.'' It is this rise in the midst of apparent fall that courses through Kady's work.'