Bundu, By Chris Barnard

Compact, colourful, freighted with great issues but written with pace and grace, Bundu should introduce UK readers to a giant of African fiction.

Chris Barnard helped lead the Sixties revival of literature in Afrikaans, yet the South African veteran's latest novel reveals an author at the height of his powers.

In a limbo-land between South Africa and Mozambique, a researcher into baboon behaviour finds a human crisis on his doorstep. An ideas-rich adventure, superbly served by translator Michiel Heyns.