The country was ablaze. There were bomb blasts, massacres, assassinations. The right wing wanted a Volkstaat, Inkatha wanted secession for KwaZulu and was prepared to fight for it. It was a time fraught with danger. It was a time loaded with possibility. Peter Harris saw it from the inside. In January 1994 he was seconded to the newly formed Independent Electoral commission with South Africa's first democratic election only three months away. A dedicated group of people tasked with the impossible. This story – enthralling, moving, thrilling – reveals the forces at work behind the scenes: those intent on destruction, those committed to delivering an election against the odds, and conspiracy to strike at the heart of the election. Birth is about a vulnerable moment. It is about a nation staring into the abyss as it steps out to determine its future.