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Written from Alex La Guma's first-hand experiences in apartheid South Africa, In the Fog of the Seasons' End is a short but powerful novel, unflinching in its depiction of the day-to-day realities of segregation and the secret underground movement that fought against it. For Beukes and Elia, undercover protestors of apartheid, every day holds the threat of discovery and imprisonment. With the threat of torture hanging over their heads, every leaflet, every phone call, every outspoken word puts them closer to capture. As the stakes get impossibly high, the only thing holding them together is their refusal to submit to the regime - but even that is proving more difficult by the day. An intense and well-crafted plot, Alex La Guma unravels the truth behind the underground anti-apartheid movement. 'The greatest South African novelist of the 20th century.' The Times'His spirit of hope lives on in the books he left us. He is a central figure alongside Chinua Achebe.' Ngugi wa Thiong'o
About the author
Alex La Guma was born in 1924 in District Six, Cape Town, and is revered as one of South Africa's leading activists and writers.
La Guma was involved in political activism from a young age, having joined the Plant Workers Union of the Metal Box Company during his first job at a factory. He was subsequently fired for his role in organising a strike for better working conditions.
He became a founding member of the South African Coloured People's Organisation (SACPO) in 1953 and was repeatedly imprisoned by the South African government due to his anti-apartheid and communist activities.
Despite a total ban being issued on all his speeches and writings, his work is internationally renowned. His most famous works include A Walk in the Night (1962), In the Fog of the Seasons' End (1972), and Time of the Butcherbird (1979), all of which challenge the social systems of colonialism in South Africa.
After his release from prison in 1966, he and his family were exiled from South Africa. They relocated to London and later Cuba where La Guma served as the representative of the African National Congress.
La Guma died in 1985.
