Nadine Gordimer Three brook's

For years, it had been what is called a “deteriorating situation.” Now all over South Africa the cities are battlegrounds. The members of the Smales family—liberal whites—are rescued from the terror by their servant, July, who leads them to refuge in his village. What happens to the Smaleses and to July—the shifts in character and relationships—gives us an unforgettable look into the terrifying, tacit understandings and misunderstandings between blacks and whites

All the troubles of apartheid-era South Africa are encapsulated in this slim and beautifully-written book. Just when you think that you know the situation, you understand what is going on, the Chief is introduced and you realise that looking at it from the point of view of the (white) Smales and the in-two-worlds view of their ex-'boy' is only the half of it. It's black against white, but not for liberation alone but for power.

There are many reviews of the story of July's People. I am glad I didn't read any of them before reading it. The beauty of the book is in the slow reveal, the step-by-step unfolding both in the book and in your mind of how life really could have been without Mandela.

The brilliant writing, very controlled and precise, treats the reader as a full participant in the story and leaves far more unsaid than written knowing the reader will fill in the details.

Excellent book.