Longlive!, by Menán du Plessis (used)

Few authors can so perceptively capture place and mood as Menán du Plessis has, in this book, for Cape Town in the politically turbulent spring of 1985.

The action of Longlive! takes place over one day from sunrise to nightfall, and the interwoven parts are the lives of a group of young people – explored in their own flashbacks – throughout this momentous day. André Binneman, brooding academic; Desiree September, voluntary worker at a trade union's advice office; Marisa Siervogel, flamboyant actress and a somewhat unlikely new activist; these three share a house with the elusive Chris Braaf, a gifted young opera singer whose last day this is in South Africa.

The themes of the novel are played out against a background of protest marches, detentions, school boycotts, a township funeral. The question that haunts each character is: How to act in response to such times?

The times are violent, but it becomes apparent that mere speaking may be an act of violence; while neglect of the gift of the voice may be fatal in the bloodiest sense.

Condition: good