First published 1991
Sarah Barcant returns to post-apartheid South Africa after years of exile in London. She comes back to investigate the death of her childhood friend and former lover, Alex Mpondo, a prominent anti-apartheid activist who died in police custody. Sarah works as a lawyer on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, sifting through testimony about atrocities committed during apartheid. She discovers that Alex's death involves people she trusted, including members of her own family and the liberation movement. As Sarah digs deeper into the case, she uncovers a web of informants, double agents, and political compromises that forces her to question everything she believed about the struggle against apartheid. The investigation becomes personal when she realizes that those closest to her may have played a role in Alex's betrayal and death. Sarah must confront the painful truth that the fight for freedom came with moral complexities and devastating personal costs that continue to haunt the new South Africa.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-literature, crime, 21st-century, activism
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigation, moral-complexity, personal-stakes
Setting: South Africa, London
Period: Post-Apartheid
314 pages · Hardcover · Michael Joseph Ltd - Penguin Group
Content warnings: death, violence