Mda's Madonna

I've only read newspapers and work-related stuff since I got here - except for the very wonderful "The Madonna of Excelsior" by Zakes Mda (short for Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda), who was born in SA but spent a lot of his life abroad because of apartheid. Mda is new to me - a colleague lent me this novel and I didn't know what to expect - and I was immensely impressed by a lyrical blend of historical fact, political commentary, and a touch of magical realism. The story revolves around a real incident in the 1970s when the police arrested several white men and their black domestic servants for having sex together (the mixed-race children were held as evidence) - which was illegal, of course, at the time. Read it if you haven't already. There's a lot of insight into the politics and sociology of race and culture, some of which is uncomfortable reading for an Englishman, e.g.:

"....We put these friendships down to the old love affair between black people and Afrikaners that the English found so irritating. Even at the height of apartheid, blacks prefered dealing with Afrikaners to the English-speaking South Africans. The English, common wisdom stated, were hypocrites. They laughed with you, but immediately you turned, they stabbed you in the back. The Afrikaner, on the other hand, was honest. When he hated you, he showed you at once. He did not pretend to like you. If he hated blacks, he said so publicly. So, when you dealt with him, you knew who you were dealing with. When he smiled, you knew he was genuine. One could never trust the smile of an Englishman."