Shortlisted for the Booker Prize
In early 1749, a white woman and a black man are stranded in the wilderness of the South African interior. She is an educated woman, totally helpless in the wilds. He is a runaway slave. They know only each other.
At first, their relationship is guarded, poisoned by the black and white in them both. But hesitantly, there emerges between them a fellowship that engulfs their most private selves, as they face the long trek back to civilisation.
This, then is the stunning story of their trek together, how they find in each other their mutual need and humanity, and finally how their days together turn into an unforgettable, tender love story.
“It is difficult to see how any South African novelist will be able to surpass the honesty of this novel or the real courage—both as artist and as a political man—which enabled Brink to write it.” —World Literature Today
(A special thank you to book club member, Jo Jackson for the suggestion.)