Overview

‘A cleverly told and ultimately satisfying novel, by an author bold enough to reveal uncomfortable truths’ Claire Adam, Guardian ‘Efficient, and unsettling… Davids assembles the requisite parts of a Gothic novel – a hysterical woman, a haunted dwelling, a perverse family secret – into an elegant narrative’ New York Times Book Review An exhilarating tale of twisted desire and the unexpected shape of justice, for readers of The Safekeep ‘I come highly recommended to Mrs Hattingh through sentences I tell her I cannot read.’ 1920, a small, unnamed city in a colonial empire. Soraya Matas believes she has found the ideal job as a personal maid to the eccentric Mrs Hattingh, whose beautiful, decaying home is not far from the Muslim Quarter where Soraya lives with her parents. As Soraya settles into her new role, she discovers that the house is alive with spirits. While Mrs Hattingh eagerly awaits her son’s visit from London, she offers to help Soraya stay in touch with her fiancé Nour by writing him letters on her behalf. So begins a strange weekly meeting where Soraya dictates and Mrs. Hattingh writes – a ritual that binds the two women to one another and eventually threatens the sanity of both. ‘Slim, taut, haunting… an utterly beguiling read’ Lucy Caldwell ‘The Cape Town that Nadia Davids summons up in her invaluable body of work is a riven, achingly sad place of shadows, quite unlike the comfortable, sleepy Mother City of the colonial imagination’ J. M. Coetzee  

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9781398544048

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Reviews

'An arresting, brooding novel set in the outpost of an empire nonimmune to the devastations of war.' - Leila Aboulela   'Davids’ work is a song, a hundred years in the past or a hundred years in the future, that will continue to vibrate. Timeless, enriching, and just beautiful, Cape Fever now has a place on my bookshelf among the greats.' - Cebo Campbell   'A slim, taut, haunting novel... a gorgeously evocative portrait of a time and place whose reverberations continue to rock our world today.' - Lucy Caldwell   'A brilliant exploration of power and the complex dance between servant and served. This is a novel that sparkles with intelligence and atmosphere—a masterful blend of social observation and gothic suspense that will stay with you long after the final page.' - Sarah Ladipo Manyika

'An arresting, brooding novel set in the outpost of an empire nonimmune to the devastations of war' Leila Aboulela 'Davids’ work is a song, a hundred years in the past or a hundred years in the future, that will continue to vibrate. Timeless, enriching, and just beautiful, Cape Fever now has a place on my bookshelf among the greats' Cebo Campbell 'A slim, taut, haunting novel... a gorgeously evocative portrait of a time and place whose reverberations continue to rock our world today' Lucy Caldwell 'A brilliant exploration of power and the complex dance between servant and served. This is a novel that sparkles with intelligence and atmosphere—a masterful blend of social observation and gothic suspense that will stay with you long after the final page' Sarah Ladipo Manyika ‘Davids blends mysticism, quiet power and resistance, and pain born of a long stretch of history in this unsettling tale of suspense. Cape Fever is beautiful, discomfiting, and moving’ Shelf Awareness 'This beautifully assured novel interweaves the ghostly and the historical until both feel simultaneously real and imagined' Kirkus 'Taut plotting, electric prose, and Soraya's paranoid first-person narration set this slim, atmospheric novel apart. Gothic touches combine with elements of magical realism and real-life historical horrors to forge a chilling fable that's at once familiar and singular. It's a stunner' Publishers Weekly

Author Information

 Nadia Davids is an acclaimed South African playwright, novelist, academic, and former President of PEN South Africa. Her debut novel An Imperfect Blessing was shortlisted for the Etisalat Prize for Literature. She won the 2024 Caine Prize for her short story, ‘Bridling’. She lives in California and was a writer in residence at Aspen Writes.   

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