Description
This is one of the best books to have come out of South Africa in recent times …This absorbingly fine novel is a leafed score of reflection and sardonic wit as well as a gripping page-turner.
This much-awaited second novel, following Nkosi’s awardwinning Mating Birds, is a tour de force of crafted writing. Nkosi takes us to mansions and mountain hideouts, where we meet a dazzling variety of characters: the serene Princess Madi, Kristina the small-town temptress and Joe Blane, the sinister Central Committee man. Switching from comedy to sensitive observation to action and back, there are no dull patches in this complex plot. In Underground People ‘the struggle’ is the story.
With its double-dealing operatives and political shenanigans, Underground People brings elements of a political thriller into a sophisticated human drama – a sparkling new addition to South African writing on the apartheid era.
Recommendations
“His is a voice that needs to be heard.”
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University, USA
About the Author
Durban born Lewis Nkosi is an eminent critic, novelist and essayist. A writer for Drum magazine in its 1950s heyday, Nkosi later went into exile, pursuing his academic career overseas. He has held professorships of literature at leading universities in the US, Africa and Europe. Besides two novels, he has written a study of African literature, numerous short stories and essays, and also written a number of plays for radio and theatre. He currently lives in Switzerland.
