J.L. Pretorius lives in the beautiful Boland region of the Western Cape of South Africa. He has made a home in the town of Worcester, in the fertile valley of the Breede River, where he lives with his wife and four children. Growing everyone’s potential is very much at the core of the Pretorius house.

His love for literature started at a young age and even in primary school he was drawn to those classic tales that have mesmerised generations of readers through the ages. These included greats like Stevenson, Homer, Bunyan and Lewis, as well as Afrikaans giants like Langenhoven, Venter and Matthee. Later in his school career he was enthusiastically supported by most of his language teachers and a seed was sown during this time to also, one day, publish a book that one can hold in one’s hands, and in one’s heart.

After school, he chose a career in medicine and obtained a Bachelor’s in Medicine and Surgery from Pretoria University in 1999. His studies and work taught him an analytical method that has greatly aided him in dissecting and organising complex problems so that others after him, might benefit from his discovery. In this scientific environment he rediscovered his old love for story telling as a vehicle to transmit knowledge to an audience that may not be in the mood for raw science. His little health narratives now roam the streets, lanes and back roads of the Boland where he still works as a primary healthcare physician.

Being counted a child of God, J.L. Pretorius had to find a sturdy anchor for his faith in an environment that has elevated science to a religion. He found this anchor in a very personal and honest relationship with the person of Jesus Christ, both the venerated one and the practical one. This paradox of the God-man offers the opportunity to have a view on the material world from both a natural and supernatural perspective, not having to favour one above the other. It is this mixture of nature and supernature that flavours his writing to keep one always engaged and surprised and, in the end, deeply satisfied.