Description: The South African novel of identity that "deserves a wide audience on a par with Nadine Gordimer."
Review Quotes: "[Wicomb's] prose is vigorous, textured, lyrical. . . . [She] is a sophisticated storyteller who combines the open-endedness of contemporary fiction with the force of autobiography and the simplicity of family stories." --New York Times Book Review
"Wicomb is a gifted writer, and her compressed narratives work like brilliant splinters in the mind, suggesting a rich rhythm and shape." --Seattle Times "Wicomb deserves a wide American audience, on par with the fabulous reception her white countrymen Nadie Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee have received. She has a bleak but wise perspective on people and on the South African world." --Wall Street Journal "A moving and perceptive exploration of pain, change, and selfhood." --The Canberra Times "Seductive, brilliant, and precious . . . An extraordinary writer." --Toni Morrison, author of Beloved