nA startling, imaginative novel from the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature nFor years, it had been what is called a deteriorating situation. Now all over South Africa the cities are battlegrounds. The members of the Smales family--liberal whites--are rescued from the terror by their servant, July, who leads them to refuge in his village. What happens to the Smaleses and to July--the shifts in character and relationships--gives us an unforgettable look into the terrifying, tacit understandings and misunderstandings between blacks and whites. n nSo flawlessly written that every one of its events seems chillingly, ominously possible.--Anne Tyler, The New York Times Book Reviewn