The first book on my pile of Holiday reads was Bitches' Brew, by Fred Khumalo.
It is written as a series of letters between Lettie and Zakes. The story begins with Lettie, from Lesotho, leaving her rural home for Durban after realising she is pregnant. On the bus to Durban she meets Zakes, the Jazz musician. Zakes grew up in a devout family. But when he discovered Myles Davis and Steve Biko at university, he dropped out of university, dropped out of his family, and made his own way in the world.
After their meeting in the bus, they part ways. But eventually end up coming in and out of one another's lives. The letters between them reminisce about the parts of their lives spent together, and fill each other in on the times spent apart. The other men and women in their lives, the shebeens they ran, the enterprises they were involved in and Zakes' eventual descent into hardened criminal.
It is a beautiful book. About love and about stumbling your way through life.
It is a bit explicit sometimes (so many local books are! I know I am prudish but I wish this wasn't such a characteristic of local literature.) But I recommend it. It is well worth reading. For the poignant love story and for the array of characters he paints so well. And for an intense picture of the era the book was set in: the 60s, 70s.
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