Imprint
- MacLehose Press
- MacLehose Press
- MacLehose Press
- MacLehose Press
Republic of South Africa, True crime, Reportage & collected journalism, National liberation & independence, post-coloniali, Criminal justice law
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Imprint
MacLehose Press
- Paperback Oct 12, 2021 | 9781529405606 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Trade Paperback Sep 29, 2020 | 9781529405590 | RRP $36.99 Buy Now
- Hardback Oct 1, 2020 | 9781529405583 | RRP $49.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 1, 2020 | 9781529405781 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00 -
Imprint
MacLehose Press
- Paperback Oct 12, 2021 | 9781529405606 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Trade Paperback Sep 29, 2020 | 9781529405590 | RRP $36.99 Buy Now
- Hardback Oct 1, 2020 | 9781529405583 | RRP $49.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 1, 2020 | 9781529405781 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00 -
Imprint
MacLehose Press
- Paperback Oct 12, 2021 | 9781529405606 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Trade Paperback Sep 29, 2020 | 9781529405590 | RRP $36.99 Buy Now
- Hardback Oct 1, 2020 | 9781529405583 | RRP $49.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 1, 2020 | 9781529405781 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00 -
Imprint
MacLehose Press
- Paperback Oct 12, 2021 | 9781529405606 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Trade Paperback Sep 29, 2020 | 9781529405590 | RRP $36.99 Buy Now
- Hardback Oct 1, 2020 | 9781529405583 | RRP $49.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 1, 2020 | 9781529405781 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
Play Sample0:00
Two dead men. Forty suspects. The trial that broke a small South African town - by BBC Africa Correspondent
"Utterly gripping, timely and shocking" PHILIPPE SANDS
"Magnificent and heartbreaking" Washington Post
"Compelling and disturbing . . . quietly devastating" DAMON GALGUT "This is a book of profound importance . . . A masterpiece" ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
"A vintage crime story . . . an extraordinary tale . . . It is written as a drama, part thriller, part tragedy" ALEC RUSSELL, Financial Times
"A smartly paced true-crime thriller with a vivid cast of characters . . . as tense as it is disturbing" JOHN CARLIN, author of Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
Two dead men. Forty suspects. The trial that broke a small South African town "Look what the fucking dogs did to them, someone muttered. No-one mentioned the rope, or the monkey-wrench, or the gun, or the knife, or the stick, or the whip, or the blood-stained boots. In fact, no-one said much at all. It seemed simpler that way. There was no sense in pointing fingers.'"
At dusk, on a warm evening in 2016, a group of forty men gathered in the corner of a dusty field on a farm outside Parys in the Free State. Some were in fury. Others treated the whole thing as a joke - a game. The events of the next two hours would come to haunt them all. They would rip families apart, prompt suicide attempts, breakdowns, divorce, bankruptcy, threats of violent revenge and acts of unforgivable treachery.
These Are Not Gentle People is the story of that night, and of what happened next. It's a courtroom drama, a profound exploration of collective guilt and individual justice, and a fast-paced literary thriller.
Award-winning foreign correspondent and author Andrew Harding traces the impact of one moment of collective barbarism on a fragile community - exploding lies, cover-ups, political meddling and betrayals, and revealing the inner lives of those involved with extraordinary clarity.
The book is also a mesmerising examination of a small town trying to cope with a trauma that threatens to tear it in two - as such, it is as much a journey into the heart of modern South Africa as it is a gripping tale of crime, punishment and redemption.
When a whole community is on trial, who pays the price?
Praise for These Are Not Gentle People: A tense and pacy true-crime thriller
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Utterly gripping, timely and shocking
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Compelling and disturbing . . . The portrait that emerges of South African society is a profoundly sad one. Harding keeps himself invisible, and admirably objective, letting, among other things, the hardscrabble lives he describes speak for themselves. The result is quietly devastating. - Times Literary Supplement
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This is a book of profound importance. Through its pages there runs a deep and sympathetic understanding of a troubled country. A masterpiece.
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One of the finest, starkest and most minutely observed accounts of race relations in post-apartheid South Africa to date. - Financial Times
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Magnificent and heartbreaking . . . Harding explores questions of fear, race and equality in post-apartheid South Africa . . . These Are Not Gentle People is more nuanced than a typical true crime narrative - Washington Post
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A smartly paced true-crime thriller with a vivid cast of characters . . . as tense as it is disturbing, richly evoking the mood of a dark, dry place in the heart of South Africa where racial fear lingers, brutal rage flares and everyone remains trapped in the cruel coils of history.
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Andrew Harding is one of the great foreign correspondents
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Wow! What a book! I cannot believe I'm going to read too many better non-fiction books. It points out how messy, complex and nuanced is almost everything is in our society. It is exceptional - Books of the Week - CapeTalk Radio
Andrew Harding
Andrew Harding left London in 1991, aged twenty-four, and has lived and worked abroad as a foreign correspondent ever since. He spent a decade in the former Soviet Union before moving to east Africa and then to Singapore as the B.B.C.'s Asia correspondent. Since 2009, he has been the B.B.C.'s Africa correspondent. He has reported from numerous conflict zones, including Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, D.R. Congo, Burma, Central African Republic, Mali, CA te d'Ivoire and Libya, winning many awards including an Emmy. Andrew is married, with three sons. He is the author of The Mayor of Mogadishu: A Story of Chaos and Redemption in the Ruins of Somalia (2016).
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