First published in Afrikaans in 2008, Andre Brink will be at Kalk Bay Books to launch the English edition of his novel in three parts, Other Lives at the end of the month.

One of the most familiar names in South African literature, Andre Brink's latest work is an exploration of the idea of the other lives we could have lived. At once surreal and unnerving, it is a compelling look at the places we find ourselves, and the way we know ourselves.

Other Lives comprises two new novellas, Mirror and Appassionata, collected here with a third, The Blue Door (Umuzi, 2006), into one work exploring the question: what other lives may we be living, and what if they connect?

In one of the narratives an artist arrives at his studio in the afternoon. On his doorstep he sees a woman with curly hair and a dark complexion. She is a total stranger to him, yet she embraces him and, as he steps past her, two strange children rush to his feet, yelling 'Daddy!'

On the other side of Cape Town, a white man pulls himself out of bed and toward his mirror, where a black face looks back at him.

In a third story a pianist falls passionately in love with a celebrated singer he works beside but whom he is not allowed to touch. A shift in their worlds brings about change as the past invades the present in a catastrophic confrontation.

In each of the three parts of the novel characters discover that below the surface of their lives lurk other, disconcerting lives that are revealed under the pressure of changed circumstances.

Other Lives was published in Afrikaans as Ander lewens in 2008.

The author:
Playwright, novelist, essayist and teacher, Andre Brink is the author of over 20 works of fiction. An Instant in the Wind (1976) and Rumours of Rain (1978) were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Other Side of Silence (2002) won a Commonwealth Writers regional award for Best Book in 2003. He has been made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government. In 1992 he was awarded the Monismanien Human Rights Award by the University of Uppsala for making known the injustice of apartheid to the wider world. He is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Cape Town. In 2009 he published his memoirs, A Fork in the Road.

Join us at Kalk Bay Books to hear this esteemed author talk about his work and his life.

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