This charming and audacious novel tells the story of an assortment of characters living alongside the railway between two towns on the Eastern Cape at the turn of the 20th century. The track connects their different stories and provides the machinery that drives the novel's plot: an English prince is soon to visit Oudtshoorn in order to observe the Cape's economic boom, and members of the town of DeRust are determined to coax the prince into stopping his entourage and admiring their ostrich feathers. South African history shines through this engrossing tale about the effects of industry and commerce on the towns and people of the Cape.