A virus inflames a woman with mortal desire; a colonial naturalist seeks an impossible specimen; invisible violence stalks a safari; and a child’s bullying summons archaic armies. Ranging from taut human drama to phantasmagoria, these scenes make rich and strange connections – between ancient and new, human and animal, Africa and Europe, reality and dream. Includes prize-winning stories as well as previously unpublished works from one of South Africa’s foremost novelists.

Prizes

Winner of Caine Prize for African Writing 2008,Winner of Prix Francois Sommer 2015,Runner-up for BBC International Short Story Award 2012,Short-listed for Sunday Times Fiction Prize 2016

Henrietta Rose-Innes is a South African novelist and short story writer. She is the author of four novels, including Nineveh and Green Lion, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Sunday Times Fiction Prize and won the 2015 Prix François Sommer. Homing, a short story collection, was published in South Africa in 2010. She was the 2008 winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing and runner–up in the BBC International Short Story Award in 2012.