South Africa's culturally rich and complex Asian community--the birthplace of Gandhiism--is officially subsumed under apartheid's blanket "non-white" category, with the accompanying indignities of forced removals and other restrictions. Now Ahmed Essop gives these other South Africans a literary voice, in stories ranging from the humorous "Hajji Musa and the Hindu Fire-Walker" to the moving "The Hajji" and "Gerty's Brother." The novella The Visitation chronicles the tragicomic downfall of a wealthy businessman after--with a twist to the usual imagery--his evil genie gives him thousands of "magic" lamps"--Book jacket.

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