Description

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Winner of the Sharjah Int’l Book Fair Best International Fiction Award 2022

Hans van Rooyen is a former police general raised by two women who survived the 1899 South African War. He finds himself being cared for in an old age home by the daughter of liberation struggle activists. At age 80, he carries with him the memories of crimes he committed as an officer under the apartheid government. Having eluded the public confessions at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for his time in the Border Wars, he retained his position in the democratic South Africa, serving as an institutional memory for a new generation of police recruits.

Zoe Zondi is tasked to care for the old man. Her gentle and compassionate nature prompts Hans to review his decision to go to the grave with all his secrets. Zoe has her own life story to tell and, as their unlikely bond deepens, strengthened by the isolation that COVID-19 lockdown brings, they provide a safe space for each other to say the things that are often left unsaid.

They Got To You Too is just the right fiction for our troubled time. It is an ode to the power of storytelling to gently peel away the scars of old wounds and provide some sort of relief, catharsis, and healing.

About the Author

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Futhi Ntshingila is a celebrated South African writer. The award-winning author of Shameless and Do Not Go Gentle, her work centers on women and marginalized communities. Futhi holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution and currently lives and works in Pretoria.

Praise For…

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“Futhi Ntshingila is a brilliant storyteller. The way in which she inhabits each character, portrays the inescapable inter-relatedness of humans and weaves the different layers of quite disparate lives is nothing short of magic.”
— —Sindiwe Magona, award-winning author of To My Children’s Children

“Futhi’s ability to inhabit the guilt-ridden mind of Madala, an aging, wife-beating, racist Afrikaner policeman, and make you empathize with him while simultaneously loathing him is an incredible feat of literary imagination. She makes you want to take the journey down his heart of darkness, to understand why and how he became the monster he is so ashamed of being. Futhi’s characterization of an array of resilient women from different eras in South African history paints us a picture of the true backbone of our country—women who not only nurture and sustain families, but have the courage to carve new paths by breaking the shackles of both stereotype and social pressure. This novel turns the lights on while darkness envelops us.”
— —Heather Robertson, editor of Daily Maverick 168