Nadia Davids’s Cape Fever is a chilling psychological thriller that blends the ghostly with the historical, exploring colonial legacies through the lives of two women, breathlessly bound to each other, and the power of storytelling to preserve memories beyond death.
It’s 1920 in The Cape, Southern Cross Colony, when Soraya Matas, a young Muslim servant, starts her new job as a personal maid to Mrs. Alice Hattingh, who is alone in her decaying and empty mansion, 23 Heron Place. What begins as standard procedures to attend to Alice’s needs, wishes, and demands gradually turns into Soraya’s already minimal freedom dwindling as Alice demands more of Soraya’s time and presence. While Soraya and Alice are the physical bodies occupying the house. 23 Heron Place holds more than empty rooms and walls. Spirits cling to the home, fuelled by rage, grief, and a search for a voice. Soraya can see these spirits, including the Gray woman, whom she believes is her predecessor, Fatima.
Soraya interacts with these spirits in a way that reveals a natural coexistence between ghosts of the past and places of the present. These spirits appear to Soraya during times of loneliness, anger, and sadness, offering comfort, guidance, and relief. Although the occurrences of ghosts and spirits roaming the interior of Heron Place are a cause for concern, this isn’t where the true horrors of Soraya’s predicament lie. The dread is felt in the tension of the strong, subversive power dynamics between Soraya and Alice.
As the novel unfolds, we see how these two women orbit one another in the suffocating confines of the mansion. Within the house’s walls, the power dynamic between the two is magnified. We see Soraya, a complex and talented storyteller, remain within the perimeter of her role as a servant, while Alice oscillates between being served and feigning closeness with Soraya. These boundaries are consistently pushed and blurred as Alice tries to inch herself closer into Soraya’s life, primarily viewing her as an object to contain her loneliness. Soraya’s only relief from this stifling atmosphere in the house is walking through the markets in the District to run errands or to escape into the inner world of her mind, creating imaginative stories to keep her occupied while she works. It is in these moments that Soraya resembles a bird longing for freedom, and Alice represents the cage that traps Soraya. The psychological aspects of Cape Fever lie in Nadia Davids’s ability to illustrate a delicate balance between the very real struggle Soraya faces in dealing with the weight of colonialism under Alice’s watchful eye and the spirits that haunt the mansion.
Their dynamic expands and contracts throughout the novel, exemplified when Alice intrudes into Soraya’s personal life with questions about her home, family, and her betrothed, Nour. This intrusion leads Alice to offer to teach Soraya how to read and write so Soraya can communicate and correspond with Nour, in an arrangement they call the “writing hour.” The writing hour is a turning point in their dynamic. During this time, they are both equals. Sitting across from each other and on the same eye level, Soraya speaks, and Ms. Hattingh writes. While the writing hour starts pleasantly, it becomes apparent that Alice is still in control as the writer.
This constant control over Soraya, even through writing, is maddening. By displaying how much control Alice has over Soraya, Davids invites readers to reflect on the power of storytelling and who has the right to tell someone else’s story. Reading this book through the lens of wider colonial histories, my mind began to question how documentation and remembrance of the past are passed down through individuals who wield power, and how this affects how we view the stories told about colonial legacies.
While the relationship between Soraya and Alice reveals stark differences between the two, it also highlights their similarities. Alice views Soraya as two-dimensional, to be used only to serve her. However, she herself also doesn’t have power over her own life. Her house is as empty as she is. As she waits constantly for her son, Timothy, to visit her from London, her days go by with no real meaning. Only longing for her son, reminiscing on her past ambitions as a painter, and the charity work that she does.
The strength in Cape Fever lies in Nadia Davids’s ability to bring Soraya and Alice to life by capturing so clearly their many complexities. She gives Soraya a voice as a gifted storyteller. Her character deepens beyond her relationship with Alice, and her wit and love for her family are brought to life through her interactions with them and our access to her rich emotional landscape. It was in these moments of Soraya buying spices in the District, to her telling stories to the children, that I was able to see who Soraya is when she is uncaged. As a reader, my heart naturally leaned towards her, and I found her to be such a powerful woman who, in the midst of uncertainty and grief, managed to set herself and her family free. At the same time, I had space to feel pity and sadness for Alice, who hides her loneliness and sadness under the veneer of her appearance and home.
Upon finishing Cape Fever, I felt immersed in a fever dream, as suspense and rage steadily rose amid unsettling events and secrets unfolding. I left the world of 23 Heron Place, with the shadows of Soraya, Alice, and the spirits of 23 Heron Place holding on to me, leaving a lasting impression on what it means to fight for one’s voice and freedom when everything else is taken.
FICTION
Cape Fever
By Nadia Davids
Simon & Schuster
Published December 9, 2025
