No Man’s Land

Description

Hauled from the breathing spaces of his marriage and job to
appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Paul du
Toit finds himself in a country that has no place for him anymore.
A former Special Forces operative in the 1980s, he is obliged to
apply for amnesty for a ‘project’ in which two civilians were killed
and to confront questions arising from his long-buried past.
No Man’s Land is set at the turn of the millennium in South
Africa and London, where Paul becomes part of the large South
African expatriate community created by the white diaspora from
his country. Adrift in an inhospitable city, in search of a wife who
has left him even before his application is judged, he reveals two
sides of his nature – one deadly, the other vulnerable.
And gradually, through transcripts of Paul’s TRC hearing, this
profoundly moving novel explores the dual nature of his history
and the troubled question of how ordinary people deal with a
pervasive evil.