Set during the Mozambican Civil War, this story from Nadine Gordimer follows a family as they undertake an arduous journey to a South African refugee camp through Kruger Park. The story is told through the eyes of a nine year-old girl who understands little about the war other than that her father is away fighting for the government. Following her mother’s disappearance while buying cooking oil, the rest of her family join a group of other displaced villagers for the dangerous 40-mile (65 km) trek through the park. Themes include family, war, loss, lawlessness, displacement, fear, endurance, hope.

Although Nadine Gordimer’s Once Upon a Time follows a fairy-tale pattern (there is even a wise old witch!), the storyline doesn’t have a fairy-tale ending. On a superficial level, it could be regarded as a parody of The Three Little Pigs: a family builds a stronger and stronger house to keep out the big bad wolf, only for the extra security to ruin their lives. On a more serious note, the story has several important themes: Racism, Apartheid and Inequality (which lead to Social Decay) and the consequences of being ruled by Fear (Anxiety, Overreaction, and in this case Self-Destruction).