First published 1980
In a remote frontier settlement, the Magistrate has long ignored the simmering conflict between the Empire and the barbarians. But when the Empire's brutal interrogators arrive, the Magistrate is jolted into empathy for their victims. His quixotic act of rebellion lands him in prison, where he must confront his complicity in the Empire's cruelty.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, africa
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-ambiguity, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Africa, South Africa
Period: 20th-century
192 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books
Content warnings: colonialism, torture