A Darker Shade of White

Who is the tall skinny Carina Hugo who joins the sales team in the showroom of the J'Alpin Winery in the picturesque Robertson valley? Is she who she professes to be? Could she be running away from someone? Or is she in a witness protection programme? This mysterious long-legged darker shade of white belle who has men of all races and all walks of life in the valley traipsing after her?
This is the story of a woman who grew up in two worlds ‒ one, where being different from everybody else her age she was an outsider and had to prove herself all the time ‒ two, where the only friends she had as a child were children from farm-worker families who were a darker shade of white. From an early age, before school, at school, and later at university she had to compete to get anywhere. Yet through sheer determination she reached the very top of whatever she pursued.
The list of men who chased after this skinny belle who once graced the stages of the world as a Miss World finalist and supermodel is endless ‒ French playboys and industrialists, American businessmen, Hollywood and Bollywood film producers, Japanese businessmen, South African and New Zealand rugby stars, cadgers and freeloaders. “In the world of glamour and glitz,” supermodel Kajal warned her, “wealthy aromatized playboys are no better than scavengers, laughing, stinking hyenas that prey on innocent young women.”
Through liquor, sex and drugs she ultimately came to a fall and sank down to the dregs of society.
After two years in institutions this brave young woman redeemed herself and changed direction to seek happiness in the Robertson valley. Among people of a darker shade of white, farm workers, the only friends she knew as a child, she hopes to find peace and happiness again. Located in a region of the Western Cape that nestles between two magnificent mountain ranges this is a fertile viticultural valley. Here people are down-to-earth. They are still satisfied with the simple things in life. But that is relative, for life is never a bed of roses.
“You have to report him to the police. He raped and abused you,” the psychologist at the institution advised her. “I can’t,” she replied. “Why not? What about the scars and welts on your back?” the psychologist pointed out. “You don’t understand,” she replied. “You have no idea the torment he has to endure day upon day. He was a superhero and his fans idolized him, but since the injury disabled him these same devotees now mock and ridicule him.” She knows this only too well because that is her story too.
Who is Carina really? Is anonymity enough for her to find happiness in the Robertson valley? Or will the past catch up with her? Will men, past and present, allow her to find what she is looking for? Or is there a price to pay to make this dream come true?
What dramatic event is required to open the eyes of the only man she loves?
And why are Monsieur Alain Gantillon of the French Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité and Monsieur Philippe Dumas-Fortier of Interpol so interested in her? Why do they spy on her? Could it have something to do with the fact that even local drug lords are circumspect about her?