Jacky never anticipated spending her life in South Africa. Originally from the UK, she became an English teacher in her 20s and lived in Europe and north Africa, before moving to Vietnam for 25 years. When she lost her partner to breast cancer in 2019, she decided to go to Spain to start a company that supported students studying abroad.
“Then the pandemic hit and everything shut down,” she says. “Suddenly I was cut off from everything.” She began reading and writing fan fiction online, a hobby she’d taken up as a form of escape when her partner became unwell.
“There was a big group on Facebook for the lesbian storyline in the TV show Holby City, which was about two fiftysomething surgeons who had this electric chemistry between them,” says Jacky. Although she was not hoping to meet a new partner, the platform gave her an opportunity to connect with people and make friends. One of the stories she’d written caught the attention of Philippa, a pastor from Cape Town in South Africa.
“I’d always known I was gay but I worked for a Pentecostal church and had chosen the church over a relationship or exploring my sexuality,” she says. “For me, this secret was going to the grave. But when I discovered the story of these two characters on Holby City, I was drawn to it.
I found Jacky’s amazing fanfic and escaped into this fantasy world.” Philippa searched for Jacky’s Facebook page and they began chatting online, opening up about their lives. “She was so c.