Fathers and Fugitives

A propulsive, irresistibly enigmatic novel that moves fluidly between London, Germany, Belgrade, Cape Town, and Tokyo,  Fathers and Fugitives is a formally inventive and emotionally charged book about fatherhood and family, loyalty and betrayal, inheritance, loss, and belonging. 

Daniel is a worldly and urbane journalist living in London. His relationships appear to be sexually fulfilling but sentimentally meager. He has few relationships outside of sexual ones, and can seem at once callow and, at times, cold to the point of cruel with his lovers. Emotionally distant from his elderly, senile father, Daniel nonetheless returns to South Africa to care for him during his final months. Shortly after arriving in Cape Town, Daniel learns of an unusual clause in the old man's will: he will only inherit his half of his father's estate after he has spent time with Theon, a cousin whom he hasn't seen since they were boys, and who lives on a sprawling farm in the Free State. The young son of the woman Theon lives with is seriously ill, and, with the conditions bearing on Daniel's inheritance shifting in real time, Theon and Daniel travel with the boy to Japan for an experimental cure and a voyage that will change their lives forever.

S. J. Naudé's masterful novel is many things at once: a literary page page-turner full of vivid, unexpected characters and surprising twists; a loving and at times shockingly raw portrayal of its protagonist's complex psyche; and a devastatingly subtle look into South Africa's fraught recent history.