They got to you too
Subtitle: a novel
By: Futhi Ntshingila
Publisher: Pan Macmillian South Africa
Published: 2021
Place of publication: Johannesburg, South Africa
Language: eng
Number of pages: 180
ISBN-13: 9781770107281; 9781770107298
Subjects: Ex-police officers; Fiction; Apartheid; Older people; Institutional care; Old age homes; South African fiction (English)
Description: "Hans van Rooyen is a former police general raised by two women who survived the 1899 South African War. He find himself being cared for in an old-age home by the daughter of liberation struggle activists. At 80, he carries with him the memories of crimes he committed as an officer under the apartheid government. Having eluded the public confessions at the TRC for his time in the Border Wars, he retained his position in the democratic South Africa, serving as institutional memory for a new generation of police recruits. Zoe Zondi is tasked to care for the old man. Her gentle and compassionate nature prompts Hans to review his decision to go to the grave with all his secrets. Zoe has her own story to tell and, as their unlikely bond deepens, strengthened by the isolation that COVID-19 lockdown brings, they provide a safe space for each other to say the things that are often left unsaid."