Writing a novel about a boy coming to terms with his own identity in a prestigious Gqeberha all-boys school gave filmmaker and author Wesley Roodt the opportunity to come to terms with the boyhood challenges that shaped him.

Attending one of the country's most esteemed schools, with a rich tradition and a lengthy list of top achievers, sounds like a privilege very few are afforded.

But as a young boy, Isaac Kingston realised that this privilege comes with myriad pitfalls, especially when you are struggling to come to terms with your own identity and sexuality while navigating school politics, social hierarchies and homophobia inherent in all-boys schools.

Only after his 20th birthday, when a film school assignment requires him to make a five-minute video about himself, does the puzzle pieces of his teenage struggles fall into place and he is able to truly come to terms with his own identity.

Kingston's story comes to life on the pages of Nelson Mandela Bay author Wesley Roodt's debut novel All the Saints, and while the timelines are muddled and some of the characters are combined into one persona, Kingston's story is very much a reflection of Roodt's teenage years in the halls of the prestigious Grey High School.

"At times the book revolves around some challenging and dark themes, but the fact that I was able to write it implies that it has a happy ending and that I in...