A Question of Power is a novel by South African writer Bessie Amelia Emery Head, first published in 1973. It centers on Elizabeth, a South African refugee living in Motabeng, Botswana, with her son, Shorty. The novel is an account of her deteriorating mental state and her relationship with two torturous apparitions, Sello and Dan Molomo.

At thirteen, Elizabeth is sent to a mission school and learns from the principal that the woman who raised her was not her mother. Her real mother was a white woman who was institutionalized after having Elizabeth with a Black servant. She then committed suicide inside the mental asylum.

Elizabeth grows up to marry a gangster with whom she has Shorty. However, she ends up leaving him because of his frequent affairs and decides to move to Botswana. But because of her previous affiliation with a now-banned political party, her exit permit from South Africa is marked with a “never return” clause, forcing her into exile.

After a few months in Motabeng, an apparition named Sello appears in Elizabeth’s hut. It took the form of a farmer she sees around the village. In her mind, however, Sello is a godlike figure; she sees herself as his disciple. Eventually, Sello introduces his wife, Medusa, who becomes Elizabeth’s torturer.

One day, Elizabeth has a public outburst and passes out. She wakes up in a hospital, where Eugene, the principal of the Motabeng Secondary School where she works and a refugee like her, assures her he will take care of Shorty until she recovers. Not even a full day later, Elizabeth regains her composure.

While picking up Shorty from Eugene’s home, Elizabeth opens up about feeling lost and frightened. Shortly afterward, she is fired from her schoolteacher post. She approaches Eugene for help, and he assigns her to the local industries project’s planned vegetable garden. Elizabeth is sent to the farmers’ development group, where she must study their methods.

During this period, Elizabeth meets a few white volunteers from Europe, such as Camilla and Birgette. At one point, she opens up to Birgette about Camilla’s haughtiness and racism, who relays this to Camilla and sparks a positive change in her.

Elizabeth begins working in the vegetable garden with a woman named Kenosi. In contrast with the productive bustle of her daytime work, her nights are wracked with torturous hallucinations of Sello and Medusa. At one point, Shorty points out that she was burning things in the night, and Elizabeth realizes she has successfully slain Medusa.

One evening, an apparition named Dan walks into Elizabeth’s home. He proclaims himself to be Sello’s friend and a silent observer of everything. Promising to protect Elizabeth, he successfully enchants her.

Two days after Christmas, Kenosi informs Elizabeth that an American named Tom has arrived to help with the vegetable garden. Elizabeth finds him hardworking and wise—despite his young age of twenty-two. She begins to have him over for dinner from time to time. A tender friendship blossoms between the two.

Meanwhile, the romance with Dan has deteriorated. He brings many strange women to her home and has sex with them while taunting her. Apparitions hound Elizabeth, so to cope, she develops a dependence on sleeping pills.

After Dan strikes Elizabeth on the head, she spends two days in bed, barely conscious. Kenosi visits to inform her that a bed of tomatoes has flooded. Because Tom has left for another village, she entreats Elizabeth not to leave her alone in the garden, which motivates Elizabeth to come back to work.

On the opening day of the local industries project store, the members...