First of December

On the 1st December 1838,
all slaves were finally freed on South Africa, four years after slavery had
officially been abolished.



First of December follows
three people during the week of November 1838: James and Caroline Kendrick, and
an unnamed runaway slave making her way to Cape Town along the coast, desperate
to reach it by midnight on the 31st November.



Caroline is trapped in an
unhappy marriage, in a place she hates, always longing to go home; bored,
lonely, without purpose or any sense of belonging. James is forever on the
move, desperate for success after a lifetime of failure and humiliation, seeing
South Africa as his last great hope, preparing for the climax of his work, a
bank to serve the city. Each resents the other, feeling trapped and unloved,
yet with a wish for it all to change. Meanwhile the slave-apprentice, fearful
of being caught before the deadline, meets others living on the coast, at the
edge of society, yet always remaining alone, without any clear idea of what to
expect in Cape Town.