Publisher's Synopsis
Shortlisted for the ManBooker Prize 2003 A gripping literary thriller set in rural South Africa that is still reeling from the aftermath of apartheid. When Laurence Waters arrives at his rural hospital posting, Frank is instantly suspicious. Laurence is everything Frank is not - young, optimistic and full of new schemes. The two become uneasy friends, while the rest of the staff in the dilapidated hospital view Laurence with a mixture of awe and mistrust. The town beyond the hospital is also coping with new arrivals, and the return of old faces. The Brigadier - a self-styled dictator from apartheid days - is rumoured still to be alive. A group of soldiers have moved in with their malign commandant, a man Frank has met before and is keen to avoid. Laurence wants to help, but in a world where the past is demanding restitution from the present, his ill-starred idealism cannot last.
