The Alphabet of Birds

‘Cool and intelligent, unsettling and deeply felt, Naudé’s voice is something new in South African writing.’ – Damon Galgut

 

If death comes to a loved one, can we grieve alone? When all around is in ruins, can we con ne our lives to one beautiful room constructed out of art, or love, or family ties? What is behind emotions and words? Is it something in the language that birds use?
 

A mother dying of cancer neglects her family and herself on a desperate mission to help AIDS sufferers; a musician travels to America, England and Dubai to see her stranded siblings before returning to her plundered home in Johannesburg; a man trails his gay lover

through Berlin’s party scene looking for an antidote. Almost crushed by loss, everyone in these stories is searching for answers.
 

Astonishing and diverse, the stories comprising S. J. Naudé’s The Alphabet of Birds are startling in their originality, lyricism and revelatory power.