The Silent MinaretDaring in both form and content, this novel of belief and betrayal shuttles between two connected moments in history and two countries linked by their colonial past and globalized present. The friends of a young student who has gone missing try to reconstruct his life as they search for him, and what emerges is a picture of a man insisting on a common humanity and finding ways to unify ideologies even as his world is being divided. |
Contents
Black and White | 23 |
Summer of 2003 | 31 |
Disappeared | 41 |
The Karoo | 47 |
Violent Night | 61 |
II | 73 |
Remembering Hide and Seek | 80 |
A road map into our past | 91 |
The Monsters Name | 105 |
The Sanctuary | 115 |
Russell Square | 130 |
Missing Persons | 163 |
Finsbury Park Mosque | 170 |
Common terms and phrases
Afrikaans Allah-u-akbar Almagest Arabic arms asks Bagdad Café Biko Bophuthatswana Café Cape Town cigarette corner crowd dancing desert disappearance door exclaims eyes face Father feel film fingers flat floor forget Frances front fucking girl Gloria grandmother hand head hear Issa Issa's Jan Smuts Johannesburg Kagiso Karim Katinka kitchen knew knock Krotoa laugh lifts London Lucas Mangope Mafikeng Margaret minaret mind missing Mmabatho morning mosque mouth never night nods once palm Park photograph picture police queue remember Republic of Bophuthatswana road says seat shoulder shouted sitting slowly smoke sorry sound South Africa stares started step Stephen Biko Steve Biko stop street T-shirt talk tasbeeh Taung tell Thank things thought tries turns Vasinthe's waiting walking wall watches Western Cape window woman words