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“Government
is actually the worst failure of civilized man.
There has never been a really good one, and even
those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel,
grasping and unintelligent.” — H.
L. Mencken
23-year-old Chanda Radebe is up against a
decision: he can continue to live in a shantytown
of Soweto, South Africa, as an uninvolved,
jobless dreamer — or join forces with
the charismatic would-be revolutionary David
Themba, whose organization, Kusasa, though
little more than a gang, aspires to be a viable
alternative to South Africa’s bloated
political parties. If, that is, it can survive
clashes with local police, rival gangs, and
David’s self-destructive motives.
Pulling Chanda in yet another
direction is his cousin Bornwell Malaba, an
apprentice game ranger in a luxury safari lodge.
Indifferent to politics, Bornwell wants only
a life of peace in the wilderness for himself
— and respectable, safe conformity for
Chanda. Both become increasingly unlikely when
American businessman Alex Stanzis becomes lost
in Soweto following a vacation at Bornwell’s
lodge. The cousins try to help him after he
attracts the unwelcome attention of David Themba
— and get embroiled in far more complications
than they bargained for while simply trying
to do the decent thing.
Set against the backdrop of a
South Africa on the verge of its first-ever
free elections, Season of Ash serves
as a reminder that history is as unpredictable
as the ways in which it can alter one’s
life. Chanda’s struggle to make a decision,
Bornwell’s yearning for peace, and David’s
ominous destiny converge in an elegantly simple
tale of the roads that choose us.
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“Season of Ash is a very good read, really:
it’s sharply composed and offers an unusual,
and unusually nuanced, look at South Africa, Mandela,
et al. It’s also evocative, very humane
(not sentimental — yuck! — but humane)
and healthily skeptical. . . . The line between
humane fiction and sentimental fiction is, as
we all know, too often most painfully crossed,
but there’s no such crossing of that line
in Ash. That’s solid evidence of
the author’s intelligence and one reason
the book stands out as it does.” —
Prof. Steven D. Vivian, English Dept., South Suburban
College, IL
“Season of Ash explores complex contemporary
issues — the legacy of colonialism, the
use of terrorism as a political weapon by disempowered
groups, the continuing importance of wildlife
to the quality of human life, and the responsibility
of the individual to effect social change —
with rare insight and sensitivity. . . . Given
the complexity of its vision, the elegant simplicity
of this novel’s style is remarkable. The
beauty of its prose . . . is understated, powerful,
and perfectly suited to its subject.” —
Prof. Jean Schwind, English Dept., Elon University,
NC
“Vivid imagery and concise transitions . . . insightful
glimpses of humanity . . . the novel moves smoothly
from character to character, from year to year,
culminating in the interconnectedness of them
all. . . . Readers who could not possibly know
what life in South Africa was truly like during
the political strife are given the opportunity
to feel the anguish of those who do.” —
Vala Huenink, Keynoter
“Bryant’s novel is a thoughtful and dignified
book in which history and individual lives are
woven together through the stark incidents of
South Africa’s bloodless revolution. His
evocation of the land itself is moving and memorable
. . . South Africa is to be for black South Africans
not only in terms of voting. Bryant’s familiarity
with it lets him avoid stridency and polemic and
show us how it feels, smells and sounds.”
— Rosalind Brackenbury, Solares
Hill (Key West Citizen)
trade
paperback
5.25" X 8.25"
224 pp.
list price $17.95
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