The texture of shadows
Subtitle: a novel
By: Mandla Langa
Publisher: Picador Africa
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Johannesburg
Language: eng
Number of pages: 371
ISBN-13: 9781770103863; 9781770103870
Subjects: Politics and government; Police corruption; Political prisoners; Fiction; South African fiction (English); English fiction; Soldiers; Black authors
Description: "It is 1989, a high point  of hope in South Africa's  political history. The nation is abuzz with rumours of Nelson Mandela's  imminent release,  the dismantling of guerrilla camps and the possibility of peace. A band of exiled People's Army soldiers returns to South Africa. After years in Angola they think the change they have been fighting for is finally about to become a reality. They have been ordered to carry and deliver a sealed trunk to an unspecified destination. It is a mission that makes them a target as different parties set out to separate the men from the trunk and its mysterious contents, setting the stage for several fierce conflicts. The Texture of Shadows explores a world of hardened guerrilla fighters, corrupt police officers, ex-political prisoners and the victims of abuse of a system of bannings and beatings. But there are also cracks in this steel-edged world that hope, love and beauty can fill as the reader is swept up in the story of Chaplain Nerissa Rodrigues and her fellow soldiers." -- Back  cover.