Powerful and provocative, brilliantly written, "The Unspeakable" is as unforgettable as it isunsettling.It is the mid-1980s, the era of so-calledreformist apartheid, and South Africa is inflames. Police and military are gunningdown children at the forefront of thestruggle.Far from such action, it seems, a small partyof four is traveling by minibus to the northof the country, close to the border withZimbabwe.Their aim is to shoot a documentary on thediscovery of a prehistoric skull thatProfessor Digby Bamford boasts is evidencethat "True man first arose in southernAfrica".Boozy, self-absorbed Professor Bamford isunaware that his young lover, Vicky, bringswith her some complications. Rian, thevideographer, was once in love with her, andhis passion has been re-ignited. Bucs, ayoung man from the townships, is doing hisbest not to be involved in the increasinglydeadly tensions.Told in the first person by Rian, it centres on the conflicted being of the white male under apartheid. Unlike many of the great novels of the era, it renounces any claim to the relative safety zone of moralist dissociation from the racist crime against humanity, and cuts instead to the quick of complicity.It is sometimes said of Albert Camus's "The Stranger" (in Britain, "The Outsider") that everything would have turned out very differently, had the murder only taken place "a few hundred miles to the south".Thisis that South with a vengeance.
Peter Andersonhails from South Africa, but currently resides in North Texas where he is an associate professor of English at Austin College. The author of a previous collection of poems,Vanishing Ground, his work in fiction and poetry has appeared in numerous literary magazines and has been anthologized in bothAmerica and South Africa.The Unspeakableis his first novel.The Unspeakableis being published on September 21st 2014 byCR PressContactIf you would like an exclusive read to review or feature please contact KrisBarnes atAuthoramp.Peter Anderson is also available for interview and guest blogging.Kris [email protected] DetailsHardcover:286 pagesPublisher:C&R Press (September 21, 2014)Language:EnglishISBN-10:1936196379ISBN-13:978-1936196371Product Dimensions:8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches [email protected]
