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.

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.