Book description
In 1987, after a twelve year absence, Chistopher Hope returned to South
Africa to report on the run up to that year's whites-only election. The
nature of the election campaign and the bitter defeat of the liberals
lead him to write this satirical, evocative portrait of what it looked
and felt like growing up in a country gripped by an absurd, racist
insanity. Full of exquisite and despairing descriptions of the landscape
the White Boy is running through, this mordantly witty account of
escape, displacement and disolusionment is a mordern classic of
journalistic memoir. 'beautifully written' - The Times 'mocking, angry
and beautiful' - Washington Post 'exactly the right note of cold, poetic
irony' - Financial Times 'exquisite and despairing' - Newsday 'An
exceptional book' - Los Angeles Times
Christopher Hope was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1944. He
is the author of twelve novels including Kruger's Alp, winner
of the Whitbread Novel Award, and the Booker short-listed Serenity
House. Hope's non-fiction includes a travel book, Moscow! Moscow!,
which won a PEN Award and most recently Brothers Under The Skin
a reflection on the nature of tyranny. He lives in France.
