The Mirror At Midnight

by Adam Hochschild

First published 1990

On a moonlit night in South Africa, a man stands before an old mirror, seeing not his own reflection but the face of a long-dead ancestor. This ghostly encounter propels him on a journey through the country's turbulent past, from the arrival of Dutch settlers to the heights of apartheid. As he travels, he grapples with the weight of history, the legacy of colonial rule, and the complex ties that bind him to this land. The mirror becomes a portal into the echoes of the past, challenging him to confront hard truths about his family's role and his own place in South Africa's troubled history.

Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, africa

Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: family-secrets, past-and-present

Setting: South Africa

Period: 20th century, 1961-1994, 1989-1994

320 pages · Paperback · Mariner Books

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