Brilliantly conceived and powerfully evoked, "Kafka's Curse" is a modern reinterpretation of the Arabic legend of the gardener who loves a princess and, for his transgression, is transformed into a tree. Reset in South Africa as apartheid was coming undone, this is the story of the Khan family, who are both "colored" and Muslim. When Oscar Khan, a budding architect, dares to pursue a woman outside his race and to change his religious identity, he commits a sin and must be punished. His unforgiving brother, a post-apartheid politician, tries to come to terms with Oscar's apostasy but will himself betray his principles and his family when he in love with Amina, a beautiful and spirited psychotherapist.

"Kafka's Curse" is both part of the tradition of politically charged South African fiction and a bold departure that makes us see a nation as we never have before. Imbued with timely resonance even as it is narrated with the lyric and imaginative intensity of magic realism, it announces the arrival of Achmat Dangor in the forefront of contemporary literary novelists.