Relationships fracture under the weight of history, in Achmat Dangor’s searing novel about a brittle family in a dysfunctional society.
The last time Silas Ali encountered Lieutenant Du Boise, Silas was locked in the back of a police van and the Lieutenant was conducting a vicious assault on his wife Lydia, in revenge for her husband’s ANC activities. When Silas sees him again, by chance, 20 years later, as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is due to deliver its report, crimes from the past erupt into the present, splintering Ali’s fragile family life.
Achmat Dangor
About the Author
Poetry, short stories and novels were just one part of Achmat Dangor’s life. Another was his career as a humanitarian and literary activist in his home country, South Africa.