Author(s): Achmat Dangor

Fiction.

2004 Man Booker Prize for Fiction Shortlist The last time Silas Ali encountered the Lieutenant, Silas was locked in the back of a police van and the Lieutenant was conducting a vicious assault on Lydia, his wife. When Silas sees him again, by chance, twenty years later, crimes from the past erupt into the present, splintering the Alis' fragile family life.

Bitter Fruit is the story of Silas and Lydia, their parents, friends and colleagues, as their lives take off in unexpected directions and relationships fracture under the weight of history. It is also the story of their son Mikey, a student and sexual adventurer, with an enquiring mind and a strong will.

In Bitter Fruit, Achmat Dangor has written an unforgettably fine novel about a brittle family in a dysfunctional society. By turns harrowing, erotic and fearlessly satirical, it is a portrait of modern South Africa that also addresses questions of universal significance. With this book, Achmat Dangor establishes himself as South Africa's answer to Philip Roth.