An evocative and finely detailed novel of ordinary life under apartheid that follows the lives of a family, particularly the women of various generations, who are named Dikeledi, who together form the backbone of the story.

Dikeledi captures, carefully and movingly, the essence of the turbulent days in which it is set. The focus on family drama within an incredibly difficult social situation, the small daily struggles rather than the huge challenges that conventionally make for ‘good’ archival footage, are what sets the novel apart from other literature that deals with the period.

SHORTLISTED FOR 2003 THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE Shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Award 2003 'Dangor's writing, and the world he creates with it, exude a vibrant physicality... Dangor's vivid prose, narrative fluency and facility for literary experiment make Bitter Fruit a considerable achievement.'-- Shomit Dutta, Daily Telegraph 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 Ali's fragile family life. Bitter Fruitis 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 Mickey, a student and sexual adventurer, with an enquiring mind and a strong will.An unforgettably fine novel about a brittle family in a dysfunctional society.

In bitter fruit, Dangor ventures into territory no other South African writer in English has approached, and it is his most challenging work yet. In ways that are refreshingly open and ironical, the novel deals with the difficult politics of race, coloured identity, and the lifestyles of the new elite. Silas Ali, a former political activist, now a middle-aged civil servant working on the final TRC report, is shopping in the Killarney Mall, Johannesburg, when he bumps into a ghost from his past: Lieutenant Francois du Boise, a retired security policeman. This chance encounter brings back the memory that Silas and his wife, Lydia, have been avoiding for twenty years. The past erupts into the present, cracking the shell of normality that encloses their family life. This is the story of Silas and Lydia, and especially of their son, Mikey – a university student with a curious mind and a calculating will – as their relationships fracture and their lives go off in new and surprising directions.