The Curator

(Paperback)

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An unforgettable and provocative journey into the dark heart of South Africa. Longlisted for the 2015 Green Carnation Prize Longlisted for the 2015 Green Carnation Prize It's not possible to undo what happened in 1976. In rural South Africa a family massacre takes place; a bloodbath whose only witness is the family's black maid. Hendrik Deyer is the principal of a state-run school camp who lives nearby with his wife and their two sons, Werner and Marius. As Hendrik becomes obsessed with uncovering what happened, his wife worries about her neighbours, a poor white family whose malign influence on her son Werner is - she believes - making his behaviour inexplicably strange and hostile. One night another tragedy changes each of their lives, irrevocably. Two decades later, Werner is living with his mother and invalid father in a small Pretoria flat. South Africa is a changed place. Werner holds a tedious job in the administration department of the local university and dreams of owning his own gallery. His father is bedridden, hovering on the edge of death, and furious, as he has been for twenty years. As Werner feels his own life slip away, his thoughts turn to murder as a means to correct the course of all their futures. He can't undo the past, but Werner's desperation to change his own his fate will threaten not only his own family but also those still living in the aftermath of what happened all those years ago.

Reviews

With its forcefully characterised anti-hero Werner, this is a book that will conjure favourable comparisons with other South African literary masters. -- Barry Forshaw * Independent *
Murder is everywhere you look in this dark and gripping novel, but its often achingly funny. -- Kate Saunders * The Times *
Strauss mixes two narratives together with ease, and comes up with a novel that sparkles. * Book Munch *
The Curator is a very interesting and compelling read. * Savidge Reads *

Author Bio

Jacques Strauss was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. His first book, The Dubious Salvation of Jack V, won the Commonwealth Book Prize, Africa. He lives in London with his partner and works as a freelance writer.