Author Description

Irreverent, satirical and uninhibited, The Reluctant Passenger is a hugely entertaining and intelligent comic novel set in contemporary Cape Town. Nicholas Morris is a fundamentally decent chap who likes order, and isn't given to messy emotions. He and his 'sort-of' girlfriend Leonora share a relationship that is comforting in its sameness, and he is ensconced in a well-paid career as an environmental lawyer. When he takes on a case to save the baboons of Cape Point from developers, he becomes drawn into intrigues involving a charismatic liberal judge, dinosaurs from the old regime and the full cast of the wealthy Tomlinson family, not to mention its golden boy heir. The rainbow nation begins to unravel in a hilarious riot of traffic chaos, ecological mayhem (including a troop of baboons rampaging through a shopping mall) and sexual discovery. Michiel Heyns is one of South Africa's most acclaimed authors, and was until recently Professor of English at the University of Stellenbosch. He is the author of The Typewriter's Tale, The Children's Day, Bodies Politic, Lost Ground and Invisible Furies.