num_pages: 140
description: The story of a young South African black man obsessed with an English girl whom he encounters on the segregated Durban beachfront is told from the narrator's prison cell in this classic African novel. Although no words are exchanged, a connection develops between the two mismatched lovers, leading to an intense and ambiguous sexual encounter. He is charged with rape and receives the death sentence. Reconstructing his own history, his obsession with the girl, and his court proceedings, the narrator offers a powerful examination of the warped racial morality and brutality of apartheid.
language: English
title: Mating Birds
titlecomplete: Mating Birds
genres: Fiction, African Literature, Adult Fiction, Africa, South Africa, Historical Fiction
ratings_count: 122
publisher: Kwela Books