THE TEXTURE OF SHADOWS, a novel

370 pp., paperback, Johannesburg, 2014

A novel set in South Africa in 1989, about a group of People's Army soldiers who return home after years in Angola, believing the change they have been fighting for is about to become a reality.

"'The Texture of Shadows is an astonishingly brave book. It strips the South African freedom struggle of the usual sentimental pieties and pares it down to bare essentials: love, lies and lost illusions." Christopher Hope

A fascinating insight into the struggle that changed South Africa. Told by an insider, 'The Texture of Shadows' is by turns funny, serious, thought provoking and always engaging." Gillian Slovo, author of "An Honourable Defeat", "Every Secret Thing" and "Red Dust"

"A compassionate, at times shocking revelation. 'The Texture of Shadows' sheds light clearly on where history and literature intersect and overlap, and the diversity of their direct and indirect connections. Follow the individual destinies of Mandla Langa's characters as they move from home to exile and back to understand our fate and what our history dictates." Keorapetse Kgositsile, National Poet Laureate

Mandla Langa's other books include "The Memory of Stones" and "The Lost Colours of the Chameleon".