Maya Sing in the Tunnel of Magic introduces readers to Maya, a teenage girl who lives on a forest lodge on the South African coast. Maya is plagued by visions in dreams and when she meditates – a skill that she learnt from her deceased grandmother, at whose deathbed Maya made the promise that she would make the effort to sit in meditative stillness every day.

Confronted with these disturbing sights and unsure what they are Maya one day witnesses a shocking accident. That episode informs Maya that the visions that she is witnessing are vistas of the future and reveals to her that she can intervene to change what happens in them. But should she even do that? A difficult question for a young girl to consider.

With her newfound gift of clairvoyance Maya, with her best friend Dan in tow, charges off to meet great potential danger head-on. Ubel, a nefarious businessman is in the village, and he is intent on tearing down a natural forest to start mining coal in an area of pristine natural beauty. An act that would destroy the ecology of Maya’s home. But no one, other than Dan, knows that Maya can see the future and they’re just kids. How to stop his wicked plans?

Maya is of mixed race, her mother, Ela, is a South African of Indian descent, while her white, American father, Connor is a paediatrician in New York City who has regularly travelled to South Africa throughout his adult life as part of his academic research on childhood nutrition. He makes a visit midway through the novel and gets swept up in the high-stakes battle between Ubel, his henchmen and Maya and Dan.

History introduces Maya to Adiv, a distant relative and Tiger-whispering Indian Raj who ruled over a happy, fair kingdom thousands of years ago and who can impart timeless advice to Maya as she quests to best the evil that has beset the forest . . .

Lou Raubenheimer is a Cape Town-based author. Maya Sing in the Tunnel of Magic is his debut novel.