Penguin Random House and Exclusive Books invite you to the launch of The Longest March by Fred Khumalo.

‘When you see him, you will readily believe that he eats oven-baked bricks for breakfast. And washes them down with lead soup. To pick his teeth, only a garden fork will do. When he looks at a woman passing by, that woman is sure to experience five explosive orgasms. In less than two minutes. If he stares at her hard enough, she will fall pregnant. And deliver triplets. Three months after conception. His name means ‘the One Who Shakes Hands with a Leopard’. Xhawulengweni.’

Fred will be in conversation with Darryl Earl David at the launch!

Event details

Date: Thursday, 17 October 2019
Time: 18:00 for 18:30
Venue: Exclusive Books Gateway, Shop F248, Gateway Theatre of Shopping, Cnr Sugar Close and Gateway Drive, Umhlanga
RSVP: events@exclusivebooks.co.za or 011 798 0180
Facebook events

https://www.facebook.com/PenguinRandomHouseSA/photos/gm.647400069086815/2077719208999330/?type=3&theater

 

About the book

120 years ago, 7000 Zulu mineworkers walked from the gold mines in Johannesburg to Natal, covering a distance of 500 kilometres over 10 days. This journey was their longest march.

It is 1899 and Philippa’s fiancé Nduku has just broken off their engagement. She is heartbroken – after all, she has followed him from Kimberley, where they first met, to the goldfields of Johannesburg. In this bustling new city, tensions are mounting between the South African Republic and the gold-hungry British Empire. When war is declared, the mines are shut down and migrant workers ordered to leave town.

But how do you get home and out of harm’s way when there are no running trains and home is hundreds of kilometres away? You walk.

Over perilous terrain – sleeping in the open, being attacked by wild animals and harassed by armed white farmers – Nduku and Philippa and seven thousand others walk.

Disguised as a mineworker’s wife, for Philippa is white, she and Nduku talk about their true histories, about their fears and hopes, with every footfall.

On their way to Natal, and on their long journey into their inner selves, the possibility of lasting happiness seems within reach – if only they can survive, and if only they can weather the storm of an unexpected third player in their troubled romance.

Set during an incredible event in South African history, Fred Khumalo’s new novel is a tale of heady determination, and a tribute to the perseverance and courage of ordinary men and women when faced with extraordinary circumstances.

Categories Fiction South Africa

Tags Book events Book launches Darryl Earl David Durban Exclusive Books Fred Khumalo Penguin Random House SA The Longest March Umuzi