DANCING THE DEATH DRILL

342pp., paperback, Cape Town, 2017

A historical novel based on the life of Pitso Motaung, a young South African who volunteered to serve with the Allies in the First World War, and was on board the SS Mendi when the ship sank off the Isle of Wight in 1917, killing 616 South Africans. The majority of those who died were black labour force troops on their way to the front line in France.

Author and journalist Fred Khumalo is also the author of the novels Seven Steps to Heaven and Bitches' Brew.