The Wall of the Plague

by Andre Brink

Published 17 September 1984

Helping to research her lover's film on the great plague, Andrea returns to Provence. However, her journey becomes more a trip of personal discovery than one of pure academic research as she begins to enjoy more and more of the idyllic lifestyle.

Travelling with Mandla, a fellow South African and Black activist, helps Andrea put into perspective the more hedonistic elements of her new life. However, through the intensity of his own convictions Mandla forces his friend to re-assess her own beliefs, casting a shadow on the relationship.

As the story unfolds in a landscape evoked with a breathtaking mastery, Andrea and Mandla confront the uneasy relationships which develop between themselves and their lovers. Their difficulties form an allegory for those faced by two disparate continents, as they undertake the process of reconciling Europe's past and Africa's present.


States of Emergency

by Andre Brink

Published 3 May 1988

Chain of Voices

by Andre Brink

Published 10 May 1982
It is 1825 and high in the mountains of South Africa a group of slavesstand accused of the murder of their owner, Nicolass van der Merwe, a wealthy Afrikaner farmer. Galant, the van der Merwe family's chief hand, is held leader of the murderous band. Raised with the two sonsof the house, it was not until adulthood and rivalry over Hester, orphaned daughter of a tenant farmer, that he realised their differentroles, their unequal futures and opposed stations in life. A CHAIN OFVOICES stands as a prophetic lesson - when hopes of freedom from slavery are dashed, and when promises of equal treatment are broken, an escalating spiral of bitterness, resentment, and finally, explosiveviolence is inevitable.

Instant in the Wind

by Andre Brink

Published 13 September 1976
Based on the lives of Elisabeth Larsson and Adam Mantoor.

Rumours of Rain

by Andre Brink

Published 11 September 1978

Winter in South Africa - a time of searing drought, angry stirrings in Soweto, and the shadow of the Angolan conflict cast across the scorched bush.

Martin Mynhardt, a wealthy Afrikaner, plans a weekend at his old family farm. But his visit coincides with a time of crisis in his personal life. In a few days, the security of a lifetime is destroyed and, with only the uncertain values of his past to guide him, Mynhardt is left to face the wreckage of his future.


The Ambassador

by Andre Brink

Published 11 November 1985
Paris, the early sixties: Ambassador Paul van Heerden is the only South African to whose advice the French Foreign Office will listen; and yet, embroiled in an affair with the promiscuous, seductive Nicolette, his passion obscures even an event as significant as the Sharpville massacre. Unbeknown to him, Nicolette is also mistress to the Embassy's Third Secretary, Stephen Keyter. Almost inevitably, Van Heerden and Keyter are seduced by the potent sensuality of the city's night life - and into a fierce triangle of disinformation, deception and intrigue. By the time both men try to reconcile the conflict in their lives, events have spiralled far beyond their control; and falling foul of the system exacts from each a terrible price.

Dry White Season

by Andre Brink

Published September 1979
Ben du Toit is an ordinary, decent, harmless man, unremarkable in every way - until his sense of justice is outraged by the death of a man he has known. His friend died at the hands of the police. In the beginning it appears a straightforward matter, an unfortunate error that can be explained and put right. But as Ben investigates further he finds that his curiosity becomes labelled rebellion - and for a rebel there is no way back.

Looking on Darkness

by Andre Brink

Published January 1977

Banned for many years in the author's native South Africa, Looking on Darkness tells the story of actor Joseph Malan as he awaits execution for the murder of his white lover. Andre Brink panders to no one's political, ideological or religious beliefs in a controversial novel which has achieved international significance and abundant critical acclaim.

From three time winner of South Africa's most prestigious literary prize, the CNA Award.